The Four Ninja of the Apocalypse
by jinFreddy
Summary: Strife is a prodigy without many friends due to his past but he has found three ninjas that will help him find the truth about his past and their future and together have the biggest adventure of their lives! StrifexFury Rated T for language; Basically the characters of the Darksiders' universe in the Naruto universe
1. Possible Friendships

**A/N: The** **following** **characters have been replaced by Strife, Fury, War and Death: Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata and Kakashi. Since three of the most powerful clans aren't in this story, there won't be any bloodlines, therefore there I created three clans and each powerful in its own way. There are some changes in the personalities in some of the original characters of the Darksiders' universe, but it's for the greater good! :D Enjoy!**

XXX

It was a beautiful day! This was what Strife Karat thought while standing on top of the Academy roof. Strife was a tall twelve-year old boy with black hair and yellow eyes, typical of the Karat clan. He was wearing his usual clothes: a blue T-shirt with the Karat insignia on the back along with white shorts and blue sandals. The Karat insignia on Strife's back was covered in yellow, and it consisted in a fist with two revolvers on each side, with flames involving the fist and, what it seemed for most of inhabitants of the village, dust falling of the revolvers. The Karat clan was famous for its excellency in accuracy with guns and strength in close-quarters. Each bullet fire was precise and each punch was capable of destroying huge rocks effortlessly. They were also known for excelling in fire and earth jutsus, developing their own jutsus in those affinity, many which needed the Karat blood to work. They were also known for solving conflicts quickly and not being able to tolerate many of peoples' personalities.

But damn, if it was a beautiful day! The birds were singing, it was warm and there were a few air breezes which maintained the balance of the climate, the children were playing and laughing in the playground, War was painting the Hokage monument with hentai figures in each Hokage, there were no clou- wait, whAT?! WAR WAS DOING WHAT?! Oh god, he is in big trouble! I could already see a few ANBU squads moving around! That idiot..

War was also a twelve-year boy with white spiky hair and white eyes and was born in the Zartag clan. He usually wore a white T-shirt with a red jacket with a few white stripes in the sleeves and the Zartag insignia in white. It consisted with a sword pointing upwards with flames involving the blade. The Zartags were known for being master swordsman and using the elements for enhancing the blade, usually fire, but sometimes air, for example, to increase its speed or power. They were the police force of the village, with them, the criminality decreased greatly because no one dared to go to jail with one less arm or leg! Despite that, they were friendly, funny and very nice and its children were known for being excellent prankers.

The bell of the Academy was ringing and it was time for classes.

XXX

 **In the classroom**

'Lame boring classes, always teaching the same thing, anyone smart should know this by now' thought Strife. It was true though, Iruka-sensei was teaching the past of the Hokages for the fifth time and he didn't seem to stop there! Shikamaru was one that, like Strife, founded this too easy and only slept in the classes. Strife followed his example; he was already the top of his class, so why bother?

"Strife Karat, care to explain me why are you sleeping in my classes?" Iruka asked.

"Well, maybe because I already know this and anyone with the slight intelligence as well?! I don't know, maybe?" retorted Strife with a bit of sarcasm. A few of his classmates laughed, especially War, who almost fell from his chair. 'Note to self: ask Shikamaru for tips on how to sleep in class without getting caught'.

"Then please, since you already know this, tell me what did the first Hokage did in his prime!"

"Well, in a nutshell, the first Hokage was the one that founded the Hidden village of the Leaves and defended it against one of the most, if not the most, powerful men that ever existed, Absalom, that wanted to rule the world" declared Strife, without any bit of interest for the subject.

'Well, can't complain, it's only the fifth I'm revising this so I guess he's correct', "Good job, Strife" said Iruka "Now, War, can you please tell me how important was the second Hokage for the village?", as he finished his sentence, the bell rang and everybody started packing for the next class. War sighed, since he didn't know much of the subject. 'Lucky bastard!' everybody thought. This was the twenty-first time that happened to War! 21 times saved by the bell! I mean, how can this be even possible?!

XXX

 **In the playground**

It was time for the Taijutsu class and Mizuki-sensei was finishing pairing the fights

After quite some time, there were only four students that haven't fought yet. The most interesting matches were Shino vs Kiba (Shino won), Shikamaru vs Chouji (Shikamaru won) and Sai vs Ino (Sai won, effortlessly)

Mizuki "Alright, next up is Fury Minz vs Sakura Haruno! May the following students please step up?"

"FINALLY, a chance to shut up that banshee!" said Fury while laughing.

"Oh you are SO gonna pay Fury!" retorted Sakura.

'Calling it already, Fury wins' thought Strife as he looked to Fury walking to the fighting zone. Fury was a beautiful and rather tall twelve-year old girl. She had pink long hair and a pair of pink eyes. People usually made fun of her because of her eyes, saying that were ugly, however, many boys actually wanted her to be their girlfriend just because of her perfect body. She was wearing her usual clothes: a pink dress without sleeves with a zipper in the middle and a white Minz insignia in the back, accompanied by black gloves, black shorts with a pink stripe in the back and a pair of black low-heel knee-high boots. The Minz insignia was a crescent moon with whips covering all the right side of the side (think how the sunrays are drawn in the sun when we were younger, except it's a crescent moon and it only covers the right side). The Minz clan was known for preferring whips as main weapon and for being beast tamers. They could basically tame any animal of the world. Never understood how, though... They're also very reasonable and kind and are experts in knowing how someone feels and to treat them. Speaking of treatment, some of its clan members prefer to be medic-ninjas and they're excellent in that area!

Fury was very different from the other girls, while the others were too busy being true fangirls and kept admiring Strife because he was most likely going to be rookie of the year and so strong and some other things, Fury actually wanted to be a kunoichi and trained hard for it, instead of going on a diet to try to impress Strife.

While Strife was thinking about Fury's clan, Fury was enjoying every punch she did on Sakura, and eventually, Sakura couldn't take anymore and fell tired in the floor

"Winner: Fury Minz! Next and last fight: Strife Karat vs War Zartag! May the last students please step up?" Strife was walking casually to the fighting zone while War was jumping with excitement 'What the hell is that idiot doing jumping?' wondered Strife. " Good, now please bow to each other and whenever you're both ready, begin."

After bowing, War just said "Ready to finally lose _Strife Karat_?" Strife just sighed.

"Begin!"

War rushed straight forward to Strife while preparing a punch. Strife just walked backwards. 'What is Strife doing? Is he afraid of that guy? No, It can't be…then why?' was all Fury thought while Strife was walking backwards. Since Fury was introduced to the classroom two years ago, she took a special interest in Strife, due to the fact that he wasn't like any of the other students. Unlike the others, Strife was actually very wise and always preferred to be alone than being in company of others. Also because Strife had those deep sad yellow eyes every time he was alone. She always wanted to get to know him better and understand him.

Anyway, while, basically everybody was thinking what Strife was doing, he finally stopped near the outline of the fighting zone with War still rushing at him like a psycho. It was War's chance to prove to the others that he wasn't just another deadlast and he finally threw his punch, being his target, Strife's head. Strife simply dodged the punch, grabbed his arm with his right hand and placed his left hand in his back and pushed War to the outside of the fighting zone.

"Winner: Strife Karat!"

The public, or to be precise, Strife's fangirls: "Way to go, Strife!"

War 'Dammit, that bastard' thought while laying down defeated and looking at the ground. In the next seconds, War saw Strife's hand grabbing his, trying to get War up. War accepted and both bowed each other and War smirked. "You're not that ice cold like some say, Strife, good to know!" War said this while smiling. Even though War was the deadlast and a jerk, he was one of the few people and didn't look at Strife with disgust and didn't see him as a monster, due to its past, and Strife respected that and looked at War like a potential friend. Strife smilled as well, after hearing War's words.

'Strife is, SMILING?! I've never seen that one before!' thought Fury.

"Alright, next up is target practice, this is simple guys, you just have to throw 4 shuriken and the 4 dummies you see there. You can throw however you like, since creativity it's one of the aspects of evaluation. Now, who wants to start first?" Mizuki asked. Strife raised his hand. "Alright, Strife, here's 4 shuriken."

Strife grabbed the four shuriken, three in the right hand and one in the left. He positioned himself in front of the first dummy with his back directed at the dummy. He placed his left hand in front of his body and simply threw the shuriken in his left hand. The shuriken nearly hit his ear ring and flew straight for the dummy's head. In the next instance, he threw the three shuriken with his right hand while spinning to the left. The first shuriken made contact with the second, making his trajectory changing to the 2nd dummy's head. Meanwhile, since the 2nd shuriken made contact with the first one, it also changed trajectory to the 3rd dummy's head. The fourth shuriken flew at greater speed and didn't make contact with the other two shurikens. In the end, the three thrown shuriken hit the last three dummy's heads at the same time.

The other classmates and even Mizuki were amazed and shocked on how good Strife's precision was. This wasn't the first he did something this good but they couldn't stop being amazed by him.

"Hell, Strife, that was amazing… *clears throat* ...I mean, good job, Strife, good creativity and good precision, if this were a test you would get 100%. (80 for hitting the dummies' head and 20 for creativity) Now, who's next?" asked Mizuki. It was no surprise that Mizuki was always like this when it was target practice and it was Strife practicing. After a while, Fury was in second place with 79 points and War, well, in last with 30 points.

XXX

 **Outside the Academy**

The bell rang! The classes were finally over! Finally, Strife could go back to his compound so he could relax! As usual… but, this what Strife loved to do the most, enjoying being alone, looking at the sky and possibly hear some music in his cellphone.

When he was on his way back home, Strife heard some cries for help in the nearby woods. As curious he was, he went to see what was happening.

After side-stepping a few blocks, he saw Fury being surrounded by three drunk chunnin.

"It's useless little girl, we are in the middle of the bushes, no one is going to listen!" One of the chunnin said laughing. "Just let us have some fun!" Said another one while he was unzipping his pants.

'Holy shit! They're going to rape Fury?! I have to do something!' thought Strife, standing on of the branches. Strife usually didn't act like this, when someone called for help, usually was a villager or sometimes a shinobi, he didn't help the person, because they often see him as monster because of the rumors that have spread concerning his past a few years ago. But Fury was different, she was kind and he saw in her as a potential friend, since she didn't look at him with disgust and hatred but with confusion and kindness. And because she didn't act like a fangirl.

When Strife saw that one of the chunnins rushed to the girl preparing to give her a punch while shouting "STOP STRUGGLING!" he immediately jumped from the branch and went to save her from being raped.

Fury naturally was in state of shock and fear was the only thing that she felt. When the chunnin started running and prepared to give her a punch, she went on a basic defense stance and closed her eyes. She found odd. Wasn't she supposed to get punched? When she opened her eyes, she saw Strife, with his eyes closed, and holding the chunnin' fist tightly. The chunnin struggled to get loose of him. Strife simply opened his eyes. His eyes seemed different somehow.

"Hehe, the Ice-Cold Strife Karat is back! HAHA, I'LL BE SEEN AS A HERO TO THE VILLAGERS ONCE THEY KNOW THAT YOU WERE KILLED BY ME!" stated the chunnin that was on the back, the one that wasn't afraid.

Strife then moved his head slightly to his left, facing towards Fury, where his eyes met hers. She could see now in full detail how they were. A normal eye has a white cornea, an iris with various colors (yellow in Strife's case) and round black pupil. But not this time, Strife had a vertical black pupil, covered by a bright/pure yellow iris that glowed like the sun, followed by a dark yellow cornea. Fury, along with the chunnin that had his fist hold tightly in Strife's hand and another chunnin in the back, were terrified. She had never seen such eyes! They were full hatred, sadness and most important, mercilessness.

"Fury. Step aside. Please." Strife said calmly. Fury just nodded with her mouth open. She was lost in his eyes and couldn't do much, she walked slowly to a nearby tree and stayed behind it, never losing sight of either Strife or the three chunnins. Strife also was looking at her and until she was in a safe place, he then faced the other two chunnins.

"Don't worry boys! He's just all-talk! He only uses those eyes just to cause fear, he doesn't really have the guts to kill someone!"

"He doesn't seem that all-talk to me dude! I don't know… I might just quit, its late and I'm hungry…"

"NO! Till I get what I want, no one leaves this place without my permission! Now let's show him he's just a BRAT!" With that said, both of them rushed towards Strife from different directions.

When they were closed enough to Strife, he just twisted the wrist of the poor chunnin that had his hand hold tightly for all that time. He kneeled in pain. Strife jumped to his head with his left foot and jumped again with his right foot, this time, to the chunnin on the left. The chunnin tried to dodge his left kick grabbing it, only to get kicked in the face with his right foot, leaving the chunnin unconscious. The other chunnin was running with a kunai in his right hand while screaming die, he then tried to slash Strife's head. Strife ducked, grabbed the chunnin's arm and broke it, giving a strong palm in his elbow. Strife then moved the chunnin's back hit a pressure point in the column, making him fall to the ground unconscious and unable to move for a few hours.

Strife just backed off from the three chunnins' corpses and glared at them. "S-Strife?" It was Fury, who just came out of hiding and coming towards Strife slowly, still terrified from what just happened. "A-Are y-you o-okay?" Fury was closing distance between the two, still walking slowly. Strife faced her and just looked at those pink eyes. "S-Strife, w-what w-were those e-eyes of y-yours?" Strife place his right hand in his eyes, and as he was taking off his hand, dark dust was coming out of his eyes, making his eyes his normal yellow eyes. The dust flew with the air current. "Sorry, Fury, for what happened here. These eyes are a form of my bloodline, the Karat bloodline. They are usually manifested when I'm really angry and when I enter in combat mode with strong enemies. It basically lets me predict the enemies' movements and detect his weaknesses quickly"

"O-Oh, I-I s-see." Fury smirked. "So, you were angry at them because they were going to hurt me?"

"Something like that" said Strife.

"So you do like me" Fury smiled and Strife just rolled his eyes and sighed, and started moving towards his estate.

"Don't be ridiculous, I only saved you because you're different from the others." Strife knew Fury had a bit of sarcasm in her and she used it just to make some people laugh or to embarrass someone, but that was just too far in his opinion.

"What do you mean, Strife?"

"You're not like the others, you're different. You've seen how these three chunnins were looking at me, didn't you? They were looking at me with those eyes, full of hatred and disgust, just like the other villagers… you know what I'm talking about, you were stalking me a few weeks ago and you've noticed the looks I get from the villagers…" Fury blushed, she was so certain she was hidden, and it didn't even occur to her that he had spotted her. But Fury's blush wasn't only because of her "bad ninja skills" but because he let her stalk him! Anyway, Fury knew what he meant very well, after he explained of course. She knew what feeling to be hated was, due to the fact many of their classmates hated her and especially her eyes. But the hate Strife received was far more deep and greater. She just wanted to hug him and let him know that he could count on her.

"Well, see you tomorrow, Fury" said Strife while preparing to go back to his home.

"Yeah,… see you … hey, WAIT! I wanted to ask if… you… *sigh*" Aaaand, he was gone. She wanted to ask him if he wanted to have dinner with her family. She was sure her family would love to get him to visit them, besides, who wouldn't want to get to know who saved their precious little daughter, no matter who the person was?!

Moving along, she grabbed her backpack and started moving towards her estate.

XXX

 **In the Minz estate**

"Dear, are you alright? We were worried! What happened? You missed dinner!" Larah Minz, being her mother, started hugging her daughter and shot questions after questions, followed by some comments…

"My dear, please, let our daughter breath! How can you expect her to answer if you're crushing her!" said William Minz. For Fury's sake, there was someone in that compound that understood her.

"It's alright Father, Mother was just being worried… I just had a rough day and just needed some air to calm me down. I don't want to eat though, thank you. May I go to my room, to get some rest?" Fury said. She was only this formal when she needed something urgent or some peace and quiet, which helped her anger issues a lot.

"Ãhm … sure, dear, if that's what you wish for!" Said the clan head.

"Thank you, Father", 'I need to tell War about this, surely he'll want to know about this!" Fury didn't have many friends and War Zartag was the best friend she had. He understood her and was there to defend her when she was in trouble with the other boys and some girls.

When Fury entered her room, placed her backpack in the hanger on the wall and picked up her phone and called War.

"Hey, War, you're not going to believe in what just happened to me while I was returning back home!"

"Why? What happened?"

Fury went through the process of explaining everything since the bell from the Academy rang, to the cross over the three drunk chunnins that led her to the forest to rape her…

"THEY DID WHAT?! THEY DIDN'T SUCCEED, DID THEY?!" War intervened her the moment he heard rape. Many of the boys of their classroom actually thought of 'having some fun' with Fury, because of her incredibly beautiful body, only to get smacked in the head by War. Matters concerning Fury were extremely delicate with War, everybody knew of his overprotectiveness of Fury, and he affirmed that he viewed as her sister , due to the fact of both the Zartag and the Minz clans were close allies and War's life was pretty similar to Fury's one so they both understood each other very well.

"Wait, I haven told the best part yet!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BEST PART?!"

"Just LISTEN, GODAMMIT!" Okay, not that well I guess…

Fury explained what were the chunnins' plans involving her, one of them wanted to give her a punch to make her struggle less when performing the 'fun' part. She closed her eyes and when she opened once more, wondering why nothing had happened. But when Fury said that Strife Karat was defended her holding one of the rapers' fist, War just stopped the story again…

"Wait wait wait wait wait wait… repeat that part again Fury, please."

"Ahm, Strife showed up to help me by holding one of the rapers' fist?"

"STRIFE?! By Strife, you mean the Strife Karat?! The infamous Ice-Cold Strife?! Well, after today's fight with him, he didn't seem that ice-colded to me but I still don't believe it!"

"I know right! He even SMILED to you after that!"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot that!"

"I could believe myself that Strife was actually HELPING me! Anyway, one of the chunnin said that…" Fury then explained that he was going to be a hero after killing Strife and after he told her to move to a safe place. She explained in detail that his eyes changed and how amazing he was fighting to protect her.

"WOW! He already managed to get to the second phase of his bloodline limit, and at such young age! He's incredible!" War was in awe after hearing that.

"Wait, you know about his bloodline limit?"

"Well, yeah, his clan and ours are the only ones with bloodline limits in this village! You and I also have the power to change our eyes! It consists in three phases. Most of the members of the three clans usually hit the second phase when they turn eighteen. It consists in the change of color of the cornea. The activation of the second phase makes the user have unique abilities that vary from each clan. The activation of the second phase of the Karat' eyes have the ability to predict the enemies' movements and detect his weaknesses very fast. From the Zartag clan, my clan, it enables the user to easily manipulate the primary affinity of the user and use it at our own will, especially with our own swords, which makes them more powerful! I want to activate the second phase so bad, hehe! Moving right along, your clan ability is to summon any animal that you've encountered before in your life. That is so cool! Imagine yourself summoning an awesome beast that can slaughter everything at your own will!"

"You're a jerk, why would I want to 'slaughter everything'? But, yeah, that's pretty cool! I can't believe you know so much about this subject!" Fury was in shocked, war has been the deadlast his entire life and he actually knew something that Fury didn't!

"Well… I'm actually reading from a book that was in my secretary…" Fury just laughed. That explained everything.

"Wait, you said three eye phases, what about the third one?"

"Hmm, wait, let me check, ahm, it says here that only our ancestors activated it and there isn't much information about it… That's a pity!"

"No fair! I was getting so interested!" said Fury, acting like a little kid. War actually loved that attitude of hers, it made him feel like a big brother.

"Yeah… Hey, Fury, do you think there's a chance that we could become friends with Strife?" asked War.

"Hmm… From my experiences with him, he seems to like us, because we are 'different from the others'…"

"What do you mean, different?"

"That's what I asked him in the forest, he told me that we don't look at him the way the other villagers and some ninjas look. They look at Strife with eyes full of hatred and disgust and only see him as a monster, an ice-cold killing machine."

"Hmm… so that's why he smiled at me earlier… that explains it!" War deduced. Fury agreed. It was the reason Strife was so friendly around War and why he saved her earlier. War started giggling. "Hey, what's wrong? Why are you giggling?" asked Fury.

"Oh it's nothing!"

"Tell me!"

"You sounded earlier like you wanted to have some more experiences with him… _good experiences_ " Fury blushed.

"Oh, SHUT UP! I'm going to sleep! I'm too tired to hear your jokes!" War sounded like he was having an attack of laughter and didn't show any signs of stopping. She turned off her phone and started dressing her pyjama and went to bed. She always had her curtains open, so she could see the moonlight. 'Have some more experiences with Strife… that does sound like a good idea! I wouldn't mind see his well-toned body for once!' She closed her eyes. Fury stated imagining some pictures of Strife without his T-shirt. A small nose-bleed came out. She then slept.

XXX

 **Still in the Minz estate**

'Shit shit shit shit shit! I'm going to be late!' It was already 07:45 and she usually takes half an hour to arrive school.

"Here's the breakfast, my dear! Start running!"

"Thanks Mother!" she grabbed the toast in her mouth and the liquid yogurt in her left hand while closing the clan's door with the right hand. She started running like there was no tomorrow! Halfway to the school, she found War also running while eating a toast.

"Late as well?"

"Yeah! This is the third time! I can't be late anymore, if not, I fail this year because of my tardiness" said War while taking another bite of the toast. Fury punched in his shoulder, making War choke and spitting out some rests of toast. "What was that for?!" asked War.

"That one was for last night's joke!"

"Oh, yeah, that one, I am sorry, I just couldn't resist! It was too good to pass! I did say it was nothing before you started imploring for what I was laughing" said War, trying to excuse himself.

"Oh, shut up you! You know I am too curious! That was unfair!" War knew this very well and he loved the way Fury started begging to know the answer.

"But seriously now, you do have a crush on Strife, don't you?" War asked, this time without any intent of joking. War acted like this when concerning that matter with Fury.

Fury widened her eyes and looked at the ground "…yeah…"

"Hmm, its okay Fury, I won't stay in the middle of you two if you are going to be a thing, which I doubt. From the way you describe how he saved you from losing your virginity, he earned my respect!" said War, acting like a father. Fury giggled and picked up her pace.

After quite a while, they finally reached the school, quickly entered the classroom. Every student was already in their seats and Iruka just said "You both reached in the 5 minutes of tolerance, you won't get any fault but next time there won't be any tolerance!"

War immediately started talking "I'm sorry Iruka-sensei, it won't happen again, we promise!" Iruka just nodded and pointed to their seats, which both deduced to sit _or else_. War then said "Hey Strife! How are you!" immediately Fury said "Hello Strife!"

Their classmates started looking at them. Why would someone say hello to him. They would get ignored like everybody else, this what every single student wondered, only to hear from Strife "I am fine, thanks guys, hello to you two"

Everybody, except Fury and War, were shocked. Sakura, Strife's number one fangirl, thought "WHAAAAAAAT?! DID HE, MY BELOVED STRIFE KARAT, JUST SAY HELLO TO THAT JERK AND THAT BITCH?!" War and Fury just sat in her places while a still shocked Iruka was preparing his class.

Strife just smiled "They're really something else. I won't be surprised if we actually end up being friends!"

"Now listen up class, tomorrow is the Genin's exam and I'll be here to do some revision and ask some of your doubts!"

Strife smirked "Finally I am getting out of here!"


	2. Where it all began

_**A/N: So here's chapter 2. I've noticed some grammatical errors in the first chapter and I truly beg your pardon, it was late in the night, I came from a family trip and I just wanted to finish it as quickly as possible, not revising it first. Hopefully same thing won't happen again and now, enjoy this next chapter!**_ __

 _ **Ssgss Ragon:**_ _Well, to tell you the truth, the four characters have all diferent personalities, I didn't want an exact copy of all four, otherwise it wouldn't be a crossover :D. But I can say Fury is a less shy and stronger version of Hinata, War is a happier less paranoid version of Sasuke (due to the fact Death is his big brother and I have special plans for him) and you'll see what I'm talking about later, and Strife is a darker less emotional Naruto, the reason being their similarities in the past, both had rough childhoods (which i will explain later in the story).For me, it just wouldn't make sense Sasuke being strife, i can see they have similar personalities but with Death being blood related, it just says to me that the Uchiha/Zartag clan is still alive because of his big brother, but i opted for Kakashi being his big brother and not Itachi because Kakashi would be useless if he doesn't have a team and Itachi, well, I can replace him, besides both have sharingan so it makes more sense to me Kakashi._

XXX

 **Outside the Academy**

Finally, the bell rang! Even though most students needed that last revision class for passing the Genin exam, Strife already knew everything, and after asking Shikamaru for some tips on how to sleep without getting caught, he successfully slept the entire writing/theory classes... The practical classes were fun but boring, Strife effortlessly won everyone in the taijutsu class, and in the 'throwing shurikens' class, no matter how hard the trajectory was, Strife kept hitting the dummies' head like it was the simplest thing in the world! He was more than ready to be a Genin! Hopefully, he'll have good teammates in his team! He wanted War and Fury to be his teammates, not because a team of the Three Great Clans of the village would be awesome, but because they were not like everybody else, they didn't see Strife as a monster, but as another one like them, like brothers, not by blood of course, but like in spirit. Even though Strife kept having difficulties showing his emotions and has problems with having a good conversation, and founded them a bit annoying sometimes, he still found them…fine, and considering it was Strife's opinion, it meant a lot, and I mean A LOT!

"STRIFE! WAIT!" it was Fury, along with War.

"What is it?"

"Me and War were wondering if you had already plans for this evening"

"Well, I wanted to relax and listen to some music. Why?"

"Well, since the Genin Exam is tomorrow, our parents let us have some fun with our friends and perhaps have dinner altogether. We wanted to know if you'd like to come!" asked War with a smile. Fury nodded in agreement, with a smile too.

"Your... friends?" Strife asked, raising the right eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, forgot about your social problem..." War said while scratching his head. Strife just rolled his eyes. "Well, Chouji can't go, some of his cousins are visiting him, so… It's just me, Fury and Shikamaru who are coming tonight" Strife was in deep thought. Even though Shikamaru was lazy and didn't care too much about, basically, everything else, he was another one that didn't see him as a monster. To be honest, he didn't see him as anything, he just didn't care, so... He guessed it's a midterm? "Hmm, fine, I'll go... Less the people the better" Fury was so happy after hearing his answer; she finally got the chance to spend time with Strife! War was, well, he didn't know if he should be happy for convincing him to come, or sad because he didn't have many friends that he could TRUST, getting friends was easy, but getting REAL friends that would do anything for each other were difficult, War knew this, and living with Strife's special social conditions wasn't easy!

"Great! The dinner is going to be on Ichiraku Ramen at 8:00 pm!" said Fury "Don't be late! I need to do some chores before I go to the dinner" said War, running towards the Zartag compound.

"Okay bye!" said Fury.

"Ichiraku Ramen?" Strife asked, he was expecting maybe the barbecue restaurant. "War's idea. He hasn't eaten there for a long time..."

"How long?"

"For two days..." Strife just raised the right eyebrow. "Yeah, I know, I had the same expression when he suggested... Anyway, I need to some chores too before I'll go, sooo… bye! See you later, right?"

"Right..." Strife said, waving his right hand in the air and then walked away towards his clan compound, with both of his hands in his pockets. Fury was not so sure now whether he would come to the dinner or not. Fury went home too, to finish her chores, wondering if he would go to the dinner after all…

XXX

 **On the way to Ichiraku Ramen**

Fury was running towards the meeting point. She was ten minutes late. By now, War was already there, maybe Shikamaru but he was lazy and didn't arrive on time some days and Strife, he was always punctual but the way he responded to her made her feel insecure whether he'd be there or not.

She finally arrived the ramen stand. "Hey Fury" War was standing outside the restaurant. It wasn't big; it was a small red house with five red Chinese lamps and tablet saying Ichiraku Ramen in big letters. It had a small kitchen behind the stand and had five tall chairs for those who wanted to eat inside. It also had two tables with four chairs each outside the restaurant.

"Hey War! Where's Shikamaru and Strife?"

"Shikamaru isn't coming. His family had already planned a dinner with the Yamanaka clan and he totally forgot about it. Strife, well, I haven't seen him until this afternoon… Maybe he isn't coming…" said War with a sad expression. He knew how bad Fury wanted Strife to come.

Fury sighed "I just thought we could have some fun! He always seems so distant and sad! It's so painful to watch!"

War wanted to cheer her up, and he might have found the solution "You wanted to have good _experiences_ with him, didn't you?" Fury blushed and to try to hide it, she just screamed shut up and punched him in the shoulder. War just laughed. "Let's go inside, shall we?" War suggested

"Yeah, sure. I just wished Strife was here"

"Well, someone's eager to see me"

Both turned around to see Strife leaning his back against the wall of the Ramen stand, with his arms in his pockets, his eyes closed and a small smile in his face.

"STRIFE, YOU CAME!" said Fury with extreme enthusiasm. War was happy too, but his ears hurt. "Wait, were you here the whole time?!" Fury was concerned because she didn't want Strife to know she said those 'cute things' about him.

"No, I just arrived here. I'm sorry for being late, I was practicing a new family jutsu."

Fury sighed in relief 'THANK GOD HE DIDN'T HEAR THOSE THINGS'

"But I did hear some things you said a while ago, Fury." Fury widened her eyes immediately. She had a strong blush in her face and frowned, trying to hide it. "It's good to know someone thinks that of me. I appreciate" Fury looked back at him, to his strong yellow eyes, and smiled, still with a blush. War then saved her from that awkward moment. "Well I don't know about you guys but I'm STARVING! Can we go inside please?" Fury giggled. It was her way to say thank you when those awkward moments happened.

"Yes, please, I'm also hungry. Let's see how is this ramen" said Strife

"You mean, you haven't eaten ramen before?! It's the freaking food of the GODS!"

"We shall see."

The three entered. War ordered three special Mizu Ramen bowls, which, besides ramen, it had mushrooms, mizu pasta, dashi stock and scallions. Fury and Strife just ordered a normal ramen bowl.

"So Strife how is it? It's delicious right?" asked War, hoping a hell yeah, you weren't kidding when you said it's the food of the freaking gods! And not a:

"Hmm, it's eatable" Fury laughed so hard, she fell from the chair. War was angry. NO ONE should say something that horrible, he felt like his pride got wounded. War was growling. "Did I say something wrong?"

"HAHA" Fury was still laughing, when she calmed down, she started talking, with a big smile. "Sorry for that! But yeah, you kind of insulted his favorite food."

"I didn't insult the food; on the contrary, I complemented it"

"Yeah but that's an insult for him, you should have said it was great at least" said Fury with a smile.

"Why? I've tasted better, I am just saying that comparing from my experience, it is eatable, which is slightly above the middle." Strife said as a matter-of-fact.

"Now I've had it! YOU take THAT BACK right NOW!"

"Why? I'm complementing"

Fury then grabbed War to the outside and tried to end the discussion before it leaded to a fight "Listen, War, this is Strife we're talking about. He doesn't have a lot of good memories, if any. Strife was known for being coldhearted to everyone and if he thinks something is above the middle term then that's saying something! Besides, knowing him, he either won't take it back or he would insult the food, and that would lead to a fight which I don't think you'd have a chance of winning!" War sighed, defeated.

"Fine, sorry for that"

"Good, now go apologize him"

War entered the restaurant and apologized Strife. He just nodded. The three resumed eating their dinner. Fury then asked "Sooo… what do you think the teams will be?"

Strife said "I only know for certain that Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino will be in the same team due to their parents' success a few years ago"

Fury agreed. She knew about the Ino-Shika-Cho formation. Formed by Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino's parents, they were one of the most powerful teams of the village.

"Wouldn't be awesome if the three of us were in the same team?" asked Fury.

"A team with members of the Three Great Clans of the Leaf? Now that would be cool!" said War, jumping with excitement.

"Well Strife?" Strife didn't answer. He just stared blankly to the already finished bowl of ramen. "Strife? Are you…okay?"

"Yeah…that would be good" he said without emotions.

After War finished his seven bowl of miso ramen, the three payed their dinner and started walking towards their estate. After walking about two and half blocks, War turned right and wished good night to the two of them. They were both alone in the dark streets of the Leaf, with only the moonlight and only a few lamps to illuminate the street.

"I can't believe that finally I will be able to use my family's whip! I'm so excited!" said Fury, trying to chitchat Strife, since he didn't talk too much.

"And I'll be able to freely use my revolvers" Strife said with a small smile

"Have you practiced with them before?"

"Why do you think I'm so good at throwing shuriken?"

"Hmm, fair enough, I only practiced with my whip a few times, though I learn fast, I wished I could practice a bit more, the furthest my father taught me was how to grab large and small objects with it."

They reached the Karat estate. Strife then said "Well, see you tomorrow"

"Ahm, Strife?" Strife looked back at her "C-Could you…t-take me home?" Strife raised the right eyebrow "Why" he asked.

"Well, since that incident with the three chunnins I've been stressing about it and I just can't stop feeling insecure. I usually ask War but since he isn't here, could you?"

Strife sighed "Fine, if that makes you feel any better" 'You have NO IDEA how much' she thought. With Strife walking along side her, she now noticed how beautiful Strife was with the moonlight shining through his face. His dark hair looked less dark. His yellow cat eyes were glowing and with the moonlight, she could see every detail of his white face.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Fury blushed, if it wasn't for the moon being on her back, he could see her blush clearly. "I-I was just looking at your eyes" Fury said excusing herself. It was half-true though…

"They're scary, aren't they? Unlike your pretty pure pink eyes, mine are sad and impure…"

"What do you mean?" Fury asked confused

"Oh nothing, I was just thinking out loud…"

"Thank you Strife"

"For what?"

"For complementing my eyes! Besides War, you're the second one that never complained about them and actually complemented!"

"Ahm, you're…welcome, I guess" To Strife it was no big deal. On the other hand, for Fury, that meant a lot. For so many years people have hated her eyes. She was so happy! Not only her crush accepted walking her home, but also affirmed that her eyes were pretty! "Well, here we are. The Minz estate". Between the Three Great Clans, the Minzs had the bigger estate, due to being beast tamers, they needed a lot of space for the animals and they also had a small hospital on the back, for those who chose to be medic-ninjas instead of beast-tamers. On the door, it showed a big Minz insignia.

"Well, thanks for walking me home Strife. I mean it."

"Not a big problem. See you tomorrow"

"Good night! Good luck for tomorrow!"

"I won't need it"

"Not for the exam, idio-I mean-dummie! For the selection of the Genin teams!" Fury had a faint blush. She didn't mean to call him an idiot; she truly mistook him for War for a second, so she changed quickly to dummie because that's the less offensive and cuter adjective that came on her head first.

"Ahm, thanks, you too" Strife was confused, he never knew of someone that used those adjectives and meant no harm whatsoever! He decided to investigate a bit more about the subject "Did you meant it when you called me a 'dummie'?"

"I mean, you kind of follow everything literally-I mean, NO!, not at all!" Strife raised the right eyebrow 'Shit, I hate when he does that!' Fury thought. She sighed "Listen, I'm going to be honest, you do follow almost everything literally and that sort of makes you have less common sense, and the fact I called you dummie was for that same reason. Sorry" She frowned and closed her eyes while she was saying sorry. She then felt a warm hand grabbing her chin gently. "It's okay Fury, thanks for being honest with me, I mean it! Anyway, I need to get some rest, good night!"

Fury just waved her hand. Does Strife gets more emotional in the night?! She had sworn Strife had just smiled when she was comforting her. Wait. Did Strife just comforted her right now?! WHAT WAS GOING ON?!

XXX

 **In the Academy**

The students had just finished the Genin Exam. Of the 30 students, 15 of them passed, being Strife first place with the a perfect 100% total, Fury in second place with 89%, Sakura 'Banshee' Haruno in third with 82% and War in last place with a total of 51%, barely passing. Iruka-sensei was now entering the classroom with a paper.

"Listen up, everyone; I have an important message to tell you! First things first, congratulations to those who passed the exam! In this paper are the Genin teams. I will now say who is staying with whom and who your sensei is! I wish you good luck for the future and I hope you make the Leaf proud!"

Strife was chilled in the corner of the classroom, with his hands crossed in front of his mouth, with his eyes closed, only focusing his hearing on what Iruka was saying. Fury was nervous, as well as War, they both wanted each other and Strife in their team! They weren't the only ones who wanted Strife on their team! Sakura and Ino were two of them…

"Team 1: Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukya Kuchiki and Orihime Inoue and your sensei is Kisuke Urahara; Team 2: Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro and Sanji and your sensei is Nico Robin; Team 3: Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and Sakura Haruno and your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi;" Sakura felt depressed for not being with his beloved Strife and Ino felt a window of opportunity! "Team 4: Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka and you sensei is Asuma Sarutobi;" Ino also felt depressed. War suddenly had a huge smile and Strife just smirked. Fury gasped after realizing what had happened "And now the last team, Team 5: Strife Karat, War Zartag and Fury Minz and your sensei is Death Zartag"

"WHAT?! MY BIG BROTHER IS OUR SENSEI! AWESOME!" War shouted, he was laughing so hard, of all the senseis of the Academy, he would never had thought that his big brother, or Death, would be his sensei! Death was usually out for missions, since he was an elite ANBU commander, and the few times they were together were the best of his life! Fury was almost crying! She placed her hands in her face, trying to suppress her tears of happiness. She finally got the chance to spend lots of time with Strife, to try to get to know him better and understand him! Strife still had the same smirk in his face. He was with his two 'friends' (yes, he still doesn't classify them as full-friends) and not with some fangirl or jackass.

"You will meet your sensei here in this classroom and he will lead to the meeting point"

"Meeting point?" asked Shino, confused "Shouldn't we introduce ourselves here?"

"Good question Shino, I've always wondered why it is like that, but rules are rules, the jounin-sensei chooses a location to be a meeting point and leads their genin-students to that same place…"

After a while, almost all the jounin-senseis have picked up their genin-students, except Death. They heard a knock on the door and a man with no more than thirty came out. He had black hair, less dark than Strife's, blood red eyes and had his cheeks and the earrings burned. He had purplish skin and wore only a black jacket with a white Zartag insignia on the, black gloves with purple flames painted and black shorts with also purple flames. "Sorry kids, I had to do a brief report to Lord Hokage, I arrived late in the night and was tired, I'm sure you understand" He said with his eyes closed and a smile.

"No problem, big bro." War said

"If there's no problem, then follow me!"

"Hmm, so that's Death the Kinslayer…" murmured Strife

"Who's Death? Why is he so famous?" Fury whispered Strife. She didn't want to be seen as ignorant for not knowing who Death was. Strife understood that much and explained. "Death initially was a prodigy from the Zartag clan, but unlike the other members, who had a 'happy' personality, Death was darker and less outgoing, that's why his flame isn't red or white like most of the clan members, but dark purple. Another difference between him and the other members of the clan is his sword. Unlike the others who preferred either a large/small/dual sword, Death chose a dual-wield scythe, which could be pieced together into one big scythe. Death got his nickname Kinslayer for slaying a vast number of deadly and powerful monsters and two small villages, named Waterfall and Sound. He also has refused to train every genin team, until now." Strife said confident. Fury smiled.

They've arrive a red and white bridge that had a few benches in the end. The genins sat down and Death started talking:

"Alright, so this is how we are supposed to introduce ourselves, you both say who you are, what are your likes and dislikes, and what your plans are for the future. I'll start. Hello, my name is Death Zartag, I like some things and dislike some other things and my plans for the future, well, to train a successful team that will be known throughout the world and retire after that and leave peacefully. Now you start, on the right!"

"My name is War Zartag! I love Ramen, have fun with Fury and practice with my sword. I don't like people who are mean to my friends, studying and writing. My plans for the future are to be the greatest swordsman!"

"Very good, War! By the way, you won't be calling me big bro ok? You all be calling me Death-sensei, did I make myself clear?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "Now you in the middle continue"

"My name is Fury Minz, I like to spend time with War and Strife…",'We've only spend two times together which were her almost being raped and that dinner/walking her home and she already says she enjoys my company? Interesting' thought Strife "…and practice with my whip, I hate people who are mean to others for no reason and people who feel sad and lonely…" 'That explains why she looks at me differently and wants to befriend me' thought Strife "…and my plans for the future are to be the greatest beast tamer!"

"Very nice, Fury! Now you on the left finish please!" Everybody looked at Strife, with interesting looks, since they didn't know much about him.

"My name is Strife Karat. I like to relax, listen to nature and music, do some personal things that I don't feel comfortable speaking of, and practice my family jutsus. I hate many things, being the most important people who judge others by mere rumors and looks and people who underestimate each other. My plans for the future, well, I don't have any." Fury and War eye-widened and Death was shocked, it was like seeing as himself younger again, alone, in the dark and pathless.

"Ahm, good Strife, very good! Now that we've introduced ourselves to each other, we will have a second test. This test will be the one that guarantees your status as a genin, I will test your abilities and your teamwork. Now, you can do this tomorrow or now, depending on how you feel. By the way, was the exam for you?

Strife- "Dull"

Fury- "Boring"

War- "PAINFULL AND HORRIBLE"

"So how is going to be? Do it now or tomorrow?"

Fury and War said in simultaneous "Now!"

"Strife?" asked Death. Strife nodded in agreement. "Alright, meet me in the training grounds number 5 in half an hour" Death then shunshin'ed (teleported) and the three genins were left alone. They started walking towards the training ground 5.

Fury then started the conversation "Sooo, War, how are the exams of Death-sensei?"

"Well, he keeps changing but the test that he uses the most is the bell test, but I can't say for certain which one he will choose… Either way, can't wait to start using my sword!" War said with a smirk, while grabbing his new sword. His sword was huge and had a big white skull in the center

"I know right, we finally got to use our clan signature's weapons. I am so going to kick ass with my whip" said Fury, while touching her whip which was tied on her right hip. Fury's whip only had the handle, odd. Both War and Fury noticed Strife wasn't showing any signal of possessing his clan's revolvers. Fury decided to investigate "Strife, weren't you eager of finally using your revolvers? Why aren't you carrying them?"

Strife then looked at them. He then showed his white big hands, which had nothing at first, but then, dark dust was smoothly coming out of his hand, taking a shape of a revolver in each hand. After, it showed in his left hand a deep black revolver with four barrels and on his right was a white silver with a long barrel.

"WOW! That is so COOL! How did you do that?! How can I do it myself?!" asked War. Fury was also in awe.

"Well, I don't know about the Zartags, but that's how the Karats always draw their weapons, not as slowly as I did, I could do it faster…" Strife answered. War made a note to himself to after the test ask Death if he knew how to do that.

They've reached the training ground half an hour later. They saw Death finishing eating something and said "Punctual, I already like you guys! Now, this test is going to be the bell test, there are two bells hanging on my left hip, as you can see, and the objective is to work together to snatch from me these two small bells. If you have one of the bells, you pass.

War asked the question Death heard before every bell test "But there are only two bells! Only two of us get to pass?!"

Death smirked "Yep!" War and Fury gulped and the three drew their weapons "Now, do your best!"

After a few minutes, Death saw War rushing with his giant sword, Death parried it with his right scythe. After, he saw Strife aiming his 4-barreled revolver for his head. When he started shooting, Death started deflecting the bullets with his left scythe. The bullets were infinite! 'How many bullets does that revolver has?!' thought Death. Strife just kept firing. All was going accord to Strife's plan. Strife then aimed his silver revolver to the two bells. He shot 2 quick bullets, each directed to one of the bells. Meanwhile, Death was defending himself from War on the right and deflecting bullets on the left. Fury who was hiding behind a nearby bush suppressing her chakra, stealthy grabbed the 2 bells with her pink chakra-based whip after they were shot away from Death and after grabbing the two bells, she then tried to grab Death by his neck with her whip, only to see Death disappear in a gulf of purple flames and appear once again leaning in a nearby tree "Good job you three! Nice timing everyone and good teamwork, you didn't even resorted to the full use of your abilities which is great for genins! Now, Fury, who will you choose to pass?" Fury was staring at the bells, deep in thought.

"Fury, stay with one bell and give the other one to War. You both deserve to be together in the same team." Said Strife

"NO WAY, Strife! It was your plan after all, I just rushed Death and held only one side, not being able to hold him on my own… Besides, I was the deadlast, you top students should pass and not fail because of me!" War retorted. 'Strife planned all of that? Damn, I'm impressed!' thought Death.

"But I don't want any of you to fail because of me! You two should pass, I'll go for the next Genin Exam…" said Fury

Death laughed and said "You'll be pleased to know that all of you passed! Each one of you showed that you would put your lives on the line for your friends in life or death situation, and that shows great sense of friendship!"

"ALRIGHT, WE PASSED! AND I GET TO TRAIN UNDER MY BIG BRO!" exclaimed War. Strife just had a small smile and his arms crossed and Fury was jumping from excitement. Fury even hugged Strife by mistake, not knowing what she was doing. "Ahm, Fury, what are you doing?" Fury came to her senses and realizing what she was doing, she quickly stopped hugging and started looking at the ground with a hard blush. Strife noticed the blush and deduced she was feeling embarrassed. He tried to help, just like last night, and after a moment of deep thought trying to form a 'cheering up sentence', he wasn't able to come up with something so he guessed it would be better to tell the truth "I may understand why you hugged me, but I just don't have good experiences with people concerning physical contact. I apologize" said Strife, again, with those sad deep yellow eyes. Fury looked back at him.

"No, Strife, it was my fault, I just didn't know what I was doing…"Fury was now thinking what he said earlier "What do you mean about not having good experiences with people concerning physical contact?"

"It's a long sad story which I'm not too comfortable to talk about now" Strife said blankly. His past was a mystery to everyone in the village, there were only rumors about it, no real proof whatsoever. The only thing that the villagers knew was that he came to the village with 6 years old, with blood all over his clothes and two revolvers on each hand. After that, he was only seen on his clan estate of the village, hanging on top of the hokage monument or on the Academy's rooftops.

"Oh, okay then…" Fury wanted to know his past; she felt like it would explain why Strife only had a few emotions, which were pleasure, sadness and the most abundant of the three, nothingness, like he was in a constant void, which kind of explained why he didn't have a lot of common sense.

"Why are you so sad? WE ARE FINALLY GENINS AND WE ARE IN THE SAME TEAM ! WITH MY BIG BROTHER AS OUR SENSEI ! I mean, how cool is that?!" exclaimed War. He always knew how to cheer someone up, and it was true, they were finally genin, they were in the same, which meant a lot for each one of them and they had as their sensei one of the most powerful ninja the world has ever seen so, why would they be sad?!

"Yeah, you're right!" Said Fury smiling, Strife nodded in agreement and War had a big grin on his face.

"You kids have the rest of the day off, tomorrow we'll start with some initial and easy training and in the afternoon we'll do D-rank missions." War and Fury said "Yes Death-sensei!" Strife just nodded in agreement.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but I want to have dinner on Ichiraku Ramen again!" War said.

"Fine for me!" responded Fury. Strife just nodded and the three just started walking towards the ramen stand, to have some fun.


	3. Emptiness

_**A/N: Hey guys! So, I just wanted to say that this is where the good stuff I had planned starts. This chapter has the procedure of how Team 5 trains and after that, the part 1 of Team 5 first medium-level mission (C-rank). Please tell in the review section if you want me to continue this story and if you enjoy, it means a lot to me and it helps me staying more motivated! Hope you enjoy!**_

 **At Ichiraku Ramen**

"I still can't believe Death is our sensei!" said Fury, while eating a bowl of ramen. The members of Team 5 went to Ichiraku Ramen after Death accepted to train them, with War begging all the time to have dinner together, of course. They were all eating the usual, Strife and Fury with a simple bowl of ramen while War with mizu ramen.

"I know right! We are like a new team Apocalypse!" exclaimed War with excitement.

"Team… Apocalypse?" asked Fury. "You don't know about the Team Apocalypse?! Really?!"

"I don't like history okay!" Fury excused herself. War started explaining "So, in a nutshell, it was the team the second Lord Hokage trained"

"Wait, I thought you didn't know anything about the history of our Hokages!" War then said "Well, I had to study it to pass! That's what saved me from failing!"

"Oh, makes sense, I guess… sooo, what did the Team Apocalypse do to become that famous anyway?"

"Team Apocalypse was the most famous and powerful team the Leaf ever had! They single-handily finished the third Great Ninja War! I say we are like the new team Apocalypse because my big brother Death was a member of that team!"

"Is he that awesome?!" War finished his third bowl saying hell yeah, making him choke and spit the ramen against the cook, who kicked him after the three payed the dinner.

"Way to go War! I didn't even get to finish my bowl!" War then tried to excuse himself "It's not my fault you made me choke!"

"What do you mean it's my fault?! You are the one that tried to answer while eating!" War had no more excuses and finally apologized. Fury just sighed in disappointment and then noticed something "Wait, where is Strife?"

"He was here a second ago! Now that I think of him, he should have interrupted our fight by pointing his revolvers to our heads saying shut up or something! Can you sense him?" asked War

"I'll try" Fury then made a single hand seal and started to search for Strife's signature chakra. After that time with the three chunnins trying to rape her, she asked for her father to teach her sensory abilities, so she could be able to detect anything. "He's on top of the Hokage monument, more precisely laying down on top of the head of the Fourth Hokage"

War said "Typical of him, he often goes there in the nights! Should we go talk to him? I mean, he usually wants peace and quiet when he's alone"

"We should" Fury just said and both started running towards the Hokage monument, which was a mountain overlooking the Hidden Village of the Leaf that has all the faces of the Hokages carved in stone.

XXX

 **In the Hokage monument**

Strife was on top of the Fourth Hokage looking at the moon and the stars. The big Crescent Moon was right above him. From all the places of the village, this one was the most quiet and beautiful of them all, enabling the user to see the most astounding views of the village and the skies, with no one around.

"STRIFE, ARE YOU HERE?!" Strife heard Fury's voice. 'Damn annoying people that never know when to shut up' "There you are! We were looking for you!" War said.

"I'm busy, as you can see. Why are you here?" He asked blankly

"We wanted to check up on you. You disappeared without any warning; we wanted to know if you were alright!" Fury answered with a smile, War just nodded with his arms crossed. 'Why?' Strife thought

After a long while, Strife stood up, turned around so he could face War and Fury, then, he opened his eyes. His eyes had a vertical black pupil and without cornea, only with a very-expanded bright yellow glowing iris.

"Strife, is that your eyes' second phase? Why are you activating it?" War asked; he knew of his accomplishment of activating the second phase at such young age. Fury remembered the time Strife rescued her from the attackers he had similar eyes, a yellow cat-like eyes.

"No. This is just an initial part of the second phase. Then it matures a few years after the first activation. It took me seven years. You probably don't know, but today, August 1st, it's my birthday. I disappeared because I knew I'd need peace and quiet to my eyes mature properly, without any interruptions. This is how the second phase really looks like" He closed his eyes and then moved his right hand to in front of his eyes and made a hand seal. At first, nothing happened. Then, thin dark dust was starting to come out of his right hand and moving towards his eyes. Both Fury and War were looking at him with their mouths open. After the final bits of dust were finally transferred to Strife's eyes, he opened them. They weren't the glowing bright yellow eyes Fury always felt amazed by. No. Strife's eyes were something no one has ever seen in any picture or book; it had a bright yellow vertical slit, surrounded by a very dark cornea. Fury and War gasped. It was awesome and creepy at the same time. The way he was looking at them, like his bright yellow vertical pupils were capturing and memorizing every aspect and shape of them at such speed. "Strife? You okay?" Fury asked, Strife quickly changed his attention to Fury and directed his eyes to hers. Fury felt scared. It was like he was looking towards her soul, piercing it. He closed his eyes and opened again. They've returned to his normal ones. 'No dust coming out? I wonder' thought War with a face that looked like he founded something interesting. Strife caught it and started explaining "There's no dust coming out because it is now fully matured. I've been using my chakra to mature it, which had a shape of dark dust. I can now activate it when I want"

"That's so cool! And spooky! I was starting to tremble when you were looking at me!" commented War. Fury just nodded, she was in still shocked from how Strife was looking at her. It was terrifying! Strife turned around and now was facing the village.

"That's because it's a variation of my own" Strife replied.

"What do you mean?" asked War.

"Every Karat has its own variation of the eye, being the most common a white cornea with a yellow round pupil and a black shuriken shape-like. It varies from each other because the eye considers the user's past. My past was overall dark and sad and I had to struggle and fight every day, and since most of my emotions were ripped off, I have just a yellow vertical slit and a dark cornea, which symbolizes the emptiness inside of me and the inability to understand most emotions."

'It's just like he has no heart at all! What has he been through that made him stop feeling almost anything?!' Fury thought.

"Damn Strife, what happened to you? If your past is as horrible as you say, how does that explain the fact that you are so cold to those who judge you as a monster?

"You don't want to know what happened to me. They judge me as a monster because they cannot understand what happened to my family, so they started blaming on me."

"Your family?" asked Fury, finally finding courage to speak. Strife just eye-widened "I've said too much…" He ran off and jumped from the Hokage monument. Fury and War both widened their eyes and went to see the still-falling Strife "WHAT IS HE DOING?! HE'S GOING TO KILL HIMSELF?!" asked War to no one in particular. Then, they saw Strife taking off a scroll from his pocket. He opened it and a glider appeared near him. Strife grabbed the glider and started flying through the village. Fury and War were at the same time, confused, by why did he reacted that bad when they were talking about his family, and amazed by his departure. They both went home, discussing why Strife would go away in such a hurry. They figured they should ask him in the right moment and give him some space.

XXX

 **Next morning, in the training ground 5**

"First of all, I want to know your chakra affinities. Each one of you, grab a piece of this chakra paper. What you need to do is to channel your chakra to the paper. If your chakra signature is fire, the paper will burn, water the paper gets soaked, lighting the paper gets wrinkled, earth the paper turns to dirt and wind the paper splits in two.

War started channeling his chakra. The paper got split in half and then got burned. "Nice, your primary affinity is wind and your secondary is fire! You will have the opportunity to fight with lots of combos! It also tells me that you go with your own flow of action and sometimes you're pretty aggressive" War just grinned.

Fury also started channeling her chakra into the paper. The chakra paper got wrinkle and then started to soak. "Nice, your primary affinity is lightning and your secondary is water. You're a pretty explosive person that likes to stand out sometimes, also, you have knowledge on how to help a person psychologically and you're emotions follow the flow of action!" Fury nodded, she completely agreed.

Immediately when Strife started touching the chakra paper, the paper quickly turned to dust. "Wow, a powerful earth user! I haven't seen one in a while! You might even be able to control the earth itself!" War was in awe and Fury smiled. Strife had a small smirk in his face. "Now, since I know all of your affinities, we will be starting to work on them. Tomorrow we will be working on one of your family jutsus, since you're so eager to finally learn them. For now, we will be working on your family's weapons signatures." Death made three shadow clones of himself, one for each. The three pairs went on separate ways.

Death was having an easy time with War and Fury! War started working on his swordsman skills; Fury learned how to destroy strong objects with just her whip. But Strife? He had to ask him what he wanted to do! Strife already knew how to perfectly handle both revolvers properly and effectively.

"Well, I could learn the Dark Fist technique" said Strife.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about it! That technique that the Karats used to augment their taijutsu. You know how to do it?" Strife started channeling his chakra towards his hands. Dark dust was coming out of his hands and after that, his hands were completely covered with a dark substance "Looks good for now. Try to use it against that tree" Death said. Strife punched the tree and dust came off the tree. When it cleared the view, the big tree had a massive hole! "Yep, it works! Now let's work on the speed!" Death took out a scroll and opened it. A big punching bag appeared.

"Wouldn't I destroy the bag instantaneously?" asked Strife

"No, not at all, this is a chakra-based punching bag which only reacts to the user's chakra. If another person uses it, nothing happens to the punching bag. Try it out!" Strife gave a strong punch and the punching bag just bounced slightly, without any big holes. "See? Now, we'll work on your speed. I heard from War that you've reached your eye's second phase, right?" Strife nodded. "Now, if you haven't noticed already, your eyes can follow objects at ultra-high speed, meaning that if someone shot you a bullet, you could see the bullet in slow-motion and easily dodge it, even grabbing it. But for that to happen, your physical speed must keep up with your eye's speed, so, from this moment on, I want you to use these chakra weights all the time, in your arms and legs. You can add or reduce the weight with your chakra." Strife took the weights and placed them in their arms and legs. He used his chakra to augment to weight, when he finally noticed his body began to move slower, he stopped channeling chakra. Death went to see how many pounds was he able to endure. "Damn, at such young age, you're able to endure 175 pounds (~80 KGs)! You've been working out!" said Death laughing "Now, start punching till you're in the ground!"

XXX

 **Two weeks later, in the headquarters**

"What?! Another D-rank mission?! I'm tired of doing these stupid missions; I want something with more action! Can't you give us at least a C-rank mission please, Lord Third?" begged War, like he was imploring for mercy. Usually, their D-rank missions were recovering Lord Daimyo's wife's cat Tora, which Fury had no problem at all taming it and since Tora kept running away, it was easy for them to find her again; pulling out weed, which War just quickly slashed them, even cutting off some that they were supposed to; destroying buildings, which Strife had no problem at all; or helping some elders doing shopping, which was the most tedious of all!

"Death, do you think they are able to hold their own outside the village?" asked the Third Hokage

"Absolutely, they're amazing, they learn pretty fast and for genins, they're pretty powerful!" War and Fury had their eyes sparkling, their sensei and one of the most powerful ninja of the village was praising them!

"Very good, here, how about this one, guarding the frontier against the Stone Country for a month." suggested the Hokage.

"Sounds good! We'll accept!" Death replied. The Lord Hokage then said "Very good, you'll leave tomorrow morning at 6 am."

"Yes Lord-Hokage!" everyone said and Team 5 left the headquarters. Death then started talking "Now, since we have to leave early tomorrow, you either can rest or have some fun, or you could practice… What will you choose?"

"I want to have fun and relax!" said War. "Yeah, I could use some relaxation!" said Fury. "I still have difficulties on that jutsu I started working two weeks ago, may I have your assistance Death-sensei?" said Strife. For the past two weeks, Strife kept training alone on that jutsu, not wanting to show it to anyone but Death-sensei. Now that Fury thought about it, since the full activation of his eyes' second phase, Strife has become more distant and showed less emotions, for example, he doesn't feel pleasure now. "Very well Strife, I will assist you" replied Death. "I will see you two tomorrow!" Fury and War waved. "Shall we go?" Strife nodded

Two weeks ago, Death asked his students to bring a scroll with a family jutsu that they wanted to learn. War learned the Fire Sword Jutsu, which engulfs his sword in white flames, Fury learned the Multiple Whips Grab Jutsu, which turned her pink hair into whips and started grabbing the target but Strife, he wanted something more advanced, so he chose to learn the Dust Substitution Jutsu, which enables the user to substitute himself with the earth/dust of a specified place, making him look like he teleported. He was having difficulties because it was hard to substitute with dust, since it flew away with the wind or kept changing its position.

"Hmm, can you try enabling your eyes? Maybe that'd work since you can see everything in slow-motion!" Death suggested. How didn't they think of that before?! Strife activated his eyes; his cornea and iris changed from white and yellow to dark and his pupil got thinner and changed black to yellow. He made the hand seals and he successfully trade places with the dust "NICE!" shouted Death, full of happiness. Strife looked back at Death "Sorry about that, I mean, it's been two weeks and you finally got it down! I should be proud of you *smiles*!"

Strife looked at the ground, deactivating his eyes "I'm just thinking about how we didn't think of activating my eyes"

"Well, I did think about it …" Strife looks back him "… but I wanted to know if you'd be able to use this jutsu without them, sorry"

"No worries, at least I got it down"

"Well, since that's all, I'll see you in the morning!" Strife nodded and both went back homes.

XXX

 **6 am, in the Gates of the Leaf**

"So, are we ready?" The three nodded "Do you have everything you need for holding your own for one month?" Fury and Strife nodded. War on the other hand shook his head "What's wrong War, what do you need?"

"I don't know if I can hold that much time without my ramen!" Was whined like a little kid. Fury and Death smacked him in the head "Really? You're thinking about ramen? Let's just go!" Team 5 left the gates quickly, moving through the branches of the forest surrounding the village, towards the frontier between the Leaf and the Stone.

"Sooo… Why do we need to surveil the frontier Death-sensei?" Fury asked. She obviously didn't care about history and quickly forgot about it if she studied in a book or if the subject wasn't interesting.

"In the last Great Ninja War, the main oppositions were the Stone and the Leaf. The frontier is now called Badlands, because, due to the war, it's completely destroyed, with only a few trees surrounding the area on the side of the Leaf and small mountains on the side of the Stone. We often need to do surveillance since some stone ninjas try to infiltrate our village."

"How long will it take to reach the frontier?" asked War. "If we are quick, we'll arrive there in five days" replied Death.

XXX

 **Five days later, in the frontier**

"Death-sensei, that faint chakra signature from before is getting closer!" Fury warned. From the past five days, Fury kept sensing a strange chakra signature, faint but powerful, and it seemed like it was watching them.

"Are you sure it's the same signature?" Death asked. Fury nodded "Can you identify it now?"

"No, its signature it's disturbed. I can't identify who it is!"

"Death-sensei, there's someone in the middle of the Badlands!" said War. The Badlands, like Death told them before, was a huge field filled with parts of corpses, like arms, legs and heads, like an ugly and much mistreated graveyard. "It has a Stone ninja hitai-ate, I recognize him!" said Fury "It's Takatsuchi, the Executioner, a missing-nin from the Stone, and also son of the Third Tsuchikage of the Stone!" Takatsuchi had a huge dark-looking metal-armor covering most of his body, except for his head, and a huge saber. Meanwhile, the other chakra signature that was behind them, also appeared. "And that's Makatsuchi the Torturer, also son of the Third Tsuchikage and a missing-nin!" Makatsuchi had also the same dark-looking metal-armor covering his whole body with the exception of his head. He had two big axes with each blade looking like a bat.

"You sure are well-informed little girl!" Makatsuchi said. "We cannot allow you that!" said Takatsuchi.

"I wonder what the Mortal Duo of the Stone is doing here" said Death calmly.

"We have orders to bring Strife Karat with us" Takatsuchi said. The members of Team 5 looked back at Strife with confusion and disbelief. Strife was glaring to Takatsuchi with his right eyebrow raised. Death then said to Strife "Do you know anything about this?" Strife shook his head. "Why would you want him?" asked Fury.

"It's not of your concern little girl! Just give us the Karat and we will let you live for the time being!" Makatsuchi retorted.

Death then said "Kids, can you three handle Takatsuchi?" Strife, for everyone's surprise said first "Yes, we can" Death then said "Okay, be careful though. I'll take on Makatsuchi."

"Oh so that's how is it going to be! HAHA, you fools! You will all die!" Death rushed towards Makatsuchi and the trio to Takatsuchi.

 _(Fight 1 – Makatsuchi vs Death)_

Death drew his dual-scythe and jumped while spinning, making him a small deadly tornado. Makatsuchi did a 360 spin with his axes and his left axe collided with Death's right scythe. Makatsuchi tried to shop Death's waist with his right axe, only to have blocked by Death's right scythe. They were in a stalemate. Death then started channeling chakra to his scythes, and purple flames started engulfing them. He then shouted "Fire Slash!" Makatsuchi quickly jumped before the two flames waves hit him. Death then combined the two scythes, making one big scythe with also flames. While Makatsuchi was airborne, he made a few hand seals and said "Water Splash Jutsu!" A huge wave of water came out of his mouth, soaking Death and put out the flames. Death cursed himself and tried to pierce his armor, which only made a small scratch. Makatsuchi grinned and tried to slash Death again, only to get parried by his scythe. Makatsuchi used his other axe again but Death quickly jumped away 'Damn, only my dual scythe can parry both axes but I don't have enough strength, guess I don't have a choice but to use the Mask' Death place his right hand and start started channeling chakra. Purple flames were coming out of his hand and then engulfed his whole face. It started to take shape and after the smoke cleared, Death was seen with a skull mask covering his face. The only thing Makatsuchi could see now was Death's black hair and his blood red eyes glowing through the Mask's holes.

"Haha, so I finally get to see the Mask that the Kinslayer used to wipe the civilization of Sound! This ought to be good!" Makatsuchi smirked.

"Now you die!" Death said, rushing towards his opponent, making his big scythe engulfed by bright purple flames again. Death's voice sounded deeper and less calm, like he was enraged. Makatsuchi made a few hand seals "Giant Golem jutsu!" A giant earth golem appeared behind him. Its face was disfigured and it was three stories high. It picked Makatsuchi with his hand and placed him on top of his head.

Death then made a few hand seals. "Reaper Form!" Death had now transformed into a seven foot tall large hooded being with skeletal wings and was now wielding a massive scythe, with skulls covering the sides of his scythe. It was like the Shinigami itself emerged to the world of the living. It was a terrifying view!

Both monsters rushed each other, the earth golem tried to punch Death but he was faster and chopped his arm off. The golem backed off a bit, but Death was much faster and jumped towards the golem, chopping the golem in perfect halves with his huge scythe. Makatsuchi jumped out in time but Death saw him. Death waved his scythe to Makatsuchi and he tried to stop with both his axes, only to both axes cut in another perfect halves. 'If he can cut with that precision and power, I'm going to die here!' Death then waved his scythe again and chopped Makatsuchi in half, cutting through his armor like it was nothing! Death then after checking that Makatsuchi was finally dead, he transformed back into his original form, without his Mask and collapsed into the ground. That form had drained too much chakra of him!

 _(Fight 2 – War, Fury and Strife vs Takatsuchi)_

Strife started shooting Takatsuchi in various places, only the bullets to get rebounded 'As I thought, my bullets won't harm his body, how about his face' He shot a couple bullets to his face, making Takatsuchi deflect them with his huge saber. 'I was correct, it would kill them'

"You're pretty deadly Karat! I have to be careful with you!" Takatsuchi made a few hand seals and said "Metal Helmet jutsu!" metal was coming out of his hands and started covering his head, making only two holes for the eyes. 'Of course he has a jutsu to cover up his head' Strife cursed while sighing. Meanwhile War was rushing towards Takatsuchi with his sword. He made a few hand seals before rushing saying "Fire Sword Jutsu!" His sword's blade was covered by white flames. Takatsuchi prepared his saber and waved it towards War. They were now engaged in a fierce swordsmen fight scene. War was actually holding his own against a more experienced swordsman. When Takatsuchi tried to cut War in half, he heard "Multiple Whips Grab!" It was Fury. She was behind Takatsuchi and her long pink hair transformed into multiple whips, grabbing the hand with the saber. War saw an opportunity to finish the battle and tried to cut his opponent by his waist, only to get blocked by his armor, making only a small scratch. Takatsuchi grinned "You fools! Nothing can pierce through my armor!" He punched War in the face, making him fly a few meters into the ground. Then, he grabbed Fury's whips, which were, in fact, her hair. He rotated her hair in the air, making her also rotate, and threw her into a nearby rock, breaking her right foot's bone. He then faced Strife. He was just standing far back, watching the fight.

"Hehe, the Ice-Cold Strife Karat watching his friends getting severely hurt and almost dying! Don't you have a heart, Karat?" Fury was looking in pain Strife, confused. 'Why is he just standing there?' Strife then blinked, quickly activating his eyes. They were now black with a big thin yellow pupil. He made a few hand seals and said calmly "Dark Fist jutsu". Dust was coming out of his hands and soon covered his whole hands. Takatsuchi was looking Strife with interest, hoping he was going to have a good fight. However, he was not expecting one thing.

"Tell me, what is a heart" Strife asked. War was unconscious, so he couldn't hear anything. However, Fury eye-widened and gasped. How did Strife not know what a heart was? Takatsuchi was shocked. He didn't think that someone so young didn't understand what a heart was. It wouldn't cross anyone's mind!

"You fool, stop mocking me! Now DIE!" Takatsuchi rushed Strife, preparing to slash him. He finally got close enough and slashed him. However, Strife just grabbed the saber with his left hand. Air was coming out from the impact and soon dusted covered both, making a crater in the ground between them. When the dust cleared off, Takatsuchi saw that his blade was being grabbed by him like it was nothing. "What is this?" asked Takatsuchi, trying to get loose of him.

"This is the feeling of despair" Strife said blankly. Takatsuchi started looking into Strife's eyes preoccupied. He was right. When he was looking through his yellow slit, Takatsuchi knew he was dead serious, and what he was feeling was indeed despair. Strife then punched Takatsuchi's belly. For everyone watching the fight's surprise, Strife just cracked his armor completely and saw Takatsuchi flying through the air. Strife then made a few hand seals and said "Dust Substitution jutsu" He then teleported right behind Takatsuchi and punched him in his column, making him fly towards the ground at high speed and making a big crater. Strife then stood near the crater, looking sharply to the now dead missing ninja.

"That was quite a fight, kid!" It was Death-sensei. Strife deactivated his eyes quickly, returning to his normal ones. Death was sitting on the ground and had watched the whole fight, but wasn't quite able to hear what both said. "Now, Strife, do you how to fix a broken leg?" Strife nodded "Good, then go treat Fury's wound. Then she will carry me and you'll carry War back to a safe location, is that clear?" Strife and Fury nodded. Strife then ran towards Fury. "Fury, this is going to hurt a bit, okay?" Fury nodded. Strife then twisted her leg back to its rightful place, making Fury scream in pain. Strife then channeled chakra to his hand and pointed towards the injury. "You know medic ninjutsu?" asked Fury.

"I learned when I was little"

"Ahm, Strife?" Strife just hummed in response "Don't take any offense on what I am about to ask you, but, how do you not know what a heart is?"

"I don't know the meaning of a heart. I had once a heart, but it was ripped off me a long time ago. Alongside my emotions and understanding of the same" Strife said blankly. Fury was shocked from his response "You're all good. Go pick up War and let's get out" Fury could only nod. Both started carrying their teammates and Death started giving directions on where to go.


	4. Heart

_**A/N: The next week I am going to France with my family, for that reason, I won't be able to post the next chapters as often as I did. Might take 2 days or more just to write one chapter. I recommend for those who want to stay tuned to follow the story. Anyway, this will be the final part of Team 5's C-rank surveillance mission. Afterwards, there will be Chunnin Exam, which is an Exam where you get promoted to Chunnin. Hope you enjoy! ^_^ If you have any question, I'm always available to clarify it too!**_

" _Now, Strife, do you know how to fix a broken leg?" Strife nodded "Good, then go treat Fury's wound. Then she will carry me and you'll carry War back to a safe location, is that clear?" Strife and Fury nodded._

" _You're all good. Go pick up War and let's get out" strife said. Fury could only nod. Both started carrying their teammates and Death started giving directions on where to go._

"We're going that far to the forest?" asked Fury, carrying Death. He answered "Yes we are, if we get ambushed, it is the best place to run or fight. This should be a good place!" It was a big crater surrounded by really high trees.

"Death-sensei, I have a scroll with one of the houses of the Karat estate. Do you want me to summon it?" asked Strife. He was the only one living in the Karat estate. It would make sense if he had one of the houses sealed.

"You do? Well that's helpful! Please do" replied Death. Strife opened the scroll and did the ram hand sign. A poof of smoke appeared near Strife. After it cleared, a small two story high house appeared in the middle of the crater. It was brown with the Karat insignia in the door and had a couple windows. Inside, it had what every house needed. It had a small living room with a big sofa and a couple of puffs, on the right it was the kitchen and in the left were the stairs. Upstairs were two bedrooms and a bathroom. One bedroom had two with beds and the other one a queen-size bed. "Who's going to sleep with whom?" Asked Fury, hoping she would get to sleep with Strife in the queen-size bed.

"Since you are sort of my guests, you three stay in these two bedrooms, I'll leave the choice of who will sleep with whom. Since I am the less tired, I will sleep in the roof and will be watching over us" stated Strife. Death was impressed by his leadership skills "Very good Strife" said Death. Fury was kind of upset he would give up his bedrooms to his teammates and would be staying in the roof sleeping.

"There is a bit of time left before it gets dark. May I ask for permission to put a sensorial barrier around the house?" asked Strife.

"Granted. Fury, go help him, please" said Death. Fury nodded and both went outside the house.

"Take this beacon and place it exactly 500 meters from here. I will take the other beacon and place it in the opposite direction, same distance. This will make a circumference of a ray of 500 meters, being my house its center" Strife said as he was giving the beacon to Fury, who was amazed by his knowledge.

After a while, both returned to the house. Strife saw War rushing towards him, yelling his name. He, as usual, raised his right eyebrow. "STRIFE! Death-sensei told me every detail of your fight with Takatsuchi! You were so awesome!" exclaimed War in awe. 'And cold' added Fury mentally, who realized she was the only one who heard what Strife said.

"Ahm, thank you, I guess" Strife said blankly. "You three can eat what I have in the fridge. I will go to the roof"

"You're not hungry?" asked Fury preoccupied. He was starting to bother her with his cold empty attitude. Strife just shook his head and jumped to the roof.

"You're worried about him" Death-sensei affirmed. Fury nodded with a faint blush in her face. "No need to get embarrassed, I am also worried about him. What he said back there when fighting Takatsuchi was mind-blowing!"

"You heard him?" asked Fury in disbelief. Death nodded "You should go help him, since you're a Minz, I suppose you know how a mind works. You should try to help him. Go talk to him tonight" Fury nodded, filled with determination.

XXX

 **In the roof, midnight**

Strife was looking at the moon, which was right above him, with his eyes' second phase activated, memorizing every detail of the moon. He started thinking about Fury.

 **(Flashback – three weeks ago)**

" _Why are you staring at me like that?"_

" _I-I was just looking at your eyes" Fury said excusing herself._

" _They're scary, aren't they? Unlike your pretty pure pink eyes, mine are sad and impure…"_

" _What do you mean?" Fury asked confused_

" _Oh nothing, I was just thinking out loud…"_

" _Thank you Strife"_

" _For what?"_

" _For complementing my eyes! Besides War, you're the second one that never complained about them and actually complemented!"_

" _Ahm, you're…welcome, I guess_. _Well, here we are. The Minz estate"_

" _Well, thanks for walking me home Strife. I mean it."_

" _Not a big problem. See you tomorrow"_

" _Good night! Good luck for tomorrow!"_

" _I won't need it"_

" _Not for the exam, idio-I mean-dummy! For the selection of the Genin teams!" Fury had a faint blush._

" _Ahm, thanks, you too" Strife was confused, he never knew of someone that used those adjectives and meant no harm whatsoever! He decided to investigate a bit more about the subject "Did you meant it when you called me a 'dummy'?"_

" _I mean, you kind of follow everything literally-I mean, NO, not at all!" Strife raised the right eyebrow 'Shit, I hate when he does that!' Fury thought. She sighed "Listen, I'm going to be honest with you, you do follow almost everything literally and that sort of makes you have less common sense, and the fact I called you dummy was for that same reason. Sorry"_

 **(End flashback, Next Flashback – two weeks and half ago)**

" _STRIFE, ARE YOU HERE?!" Strife heard Fury's voice. 'Damn annoying people that never know when to shut up'_

" _There you are! We were looking for you!" War said._

" _I'm busy, as you can see. Why are you here?"_

" _We wanted to check up on you. You disappeared without any warning; we wanted to know if you were alright!" Fury answered with a smile. 'Why?' Strife thought._

…

 _After the final bits of dust were finally transferred to Strife's eyes, he opened them._

 _Strife's eyes were something no one has ever seen in any picture or book; it had a bright yellow vertical slit, surrounded by a very dark cornea. Fury and War gasped. The way he was looking at them, like his bright yellow vertical pupils were capturing and memorizing every aspect and shape of them at such speed. "Strife? Are you okay?" Fury asked, Strife quickly changed his attention to Fury and directed his eyes to hers. Fury felt scared. It was like he was looking towards her soul, piercing it. He closed his eyes and opened again. They've returned to his normal ones._

" _That's so cool! And spooky! I was starting to tremble when you were looking at me!" commented War. Fury just nodded, still shocked from how Strife was looking at her. It was truly terrifying! Strife turned around and now was facing the village._

" _That's because it's a variation of my own" Strife replied._

" _What do you mean?" asked War._

" _Every Karat has its own variation of the eye, being the most common a white cornea with a yellow round pupil and a black shuriken shape-like. It varies from each other because the eye considers the user's past. My past was overall dark and sad and I had to struggle and fight every day, and since most of my emotions were ripped off, I have just a yellow vertical slit and a dark cornea, which symbolizes the emptiness inside of me and the inability to understand most emotions."_

" _Damn Strife, what happened to you? If your past is as horrible as you say, how does that explain the fact that you are so cold to those who judge you as a monster?_

" _You don't want to know what happened to me. They judged me as a monster because they cannot understand what happened to my family, so they started blaming on me."_

" _Your family?" asked Fury, finally finding courage to speak. Strife just eye-widened "I've said too much…" He ran off and jumped from the Hokage monument._

 **(End flashback)**

'Why is she so nice to me? Why does she care about me?' Strife wondered.

 **(Last flashback – earlier, that afternoon)**

 _Strife stood near the crater, looking sharply to the now dead missing ninja._

" _That was quite a fight, kid!" It was Death-sensei. Strife deactivated his eyes quickly, returning to his normal ones. Death was sitting on the ground and had watched the whole fight_

" _Now, Strife, do you how to fix a broken leg?" Strife nodded "Good, then go treat Fury's wound. Then she will carry me and you'll carry War back to a safe location, is that clear?" Strife and Fury nodded. Strife then ran towards Fury. "Fury, this is going to hurt a bit, okay?" Fury nodded. Strife then twisted her leg back to its rightful place, making Fury scream in pain. Strife then channeled chakra to his hand and pointed towards the injury. "You know medic ninjutsu?" asked Fury._

" _I learned when I was little"_

" _Ahm, Strife?" Strife hummed in response "Don't take any offense on what I am about to ask you but, how do you not know what a heart is?"_

" _I don't know the meaning of a heart. I had once a heart, but it was ripped off me a long time ago. Alongside my emotions and understanding of the same" Strife said blankly. Fury was shocked from his response "You're all good. Go pick up Death-sensei and let's get out of here" Fury only nodded._

 **(End flashback)**

'Is that what having a heart is? The way she acts around me? The way she looks at me?' Strife asked himself. He then heard a few footsteps behind him. It was her. 'Thinking about her, she appears'.

"Hey" Fury said calmly. She noticed he had activated his eyes. "Hi" he said. Fury the sat near Strife, and started looking to the moon. After a while, she lay down on his side, both still looking at the moon. "This is really nice" she said calmly.

"It is" he said.

"You're probably wondering what I am doing here…" she said. Strife nodded. "Well, I ahm… wanted to make you some company"

'Why?' Strife thought. He didn't look too convinced, and started looking to Fury, raising his right eyebrow. Fury looked back at Strife, more precisely, into his black yellow-pupil eyes. "What?" she asked.

"Why?" Strife asked.

"Why what?" Fury was confused

"Why do you want to accompany me? Why are you so nice to me? Why do you care so much about me?" asked Strife, desperate. He couldn't bear any longer. He needed answers now!

Fury smiled "Because I want to help you" Strife dilated his yellow pupil, making it round, and opened his mouth. 'Why?' he thought. "Because I want to understand you. I hate seeing you always so distant and lonely and sad. I want to be on your side so you can count on me and not feeling lonely again." Fury then remembered that Strife didn't know what a heart is, what was to have feelings. "Because that's what having a heart means". Strife got up and looked back at the moon and said "How foolish". Fury now was looking at Strife confused. He continued.

"A heart, you say? You are so quick to speak of such things, as if you carry your heart in the very palms of your hands. But this eye of mine perceives all. There is nothing that it overlooks. If this eye cannot see a thing, then it does not exist. That is the assumption under which I have always fought. What is this "heart"? If I tear open that chest of yours, will I see it there? If I smash open that skull of yours, will I see it there?" Fury was shocked, she wasn't expecting that.

"I-I…" Fury didn't have an answer. It was a philosophical question which she didn't have the answer. She knew the meaning of a heart, but she didn't know how to explain it better.

"That's what I thought" Strife said, running towards the forest, leaving Fury in the roof, who was standing up looking at the direction where Strife had gone to. She went slowly to her bed, thinking about an answer for him.

Meanwhile, Strife was running towards the Badlands, more precisely, to where the fighting happened. He was thinking what Fury had said earlier.

 **(Flashback)**

" _Why do you want to accompany me? Why are you so nice to me? Why do you care about me?" asked Strife, desperate._

 _Fury smiled "Because I want to help you"_

' _Why?' he thought._

" _Because I want to understand you. I hate seeing you always so distant and lonely and sad. I want to be on your side so you can count on me and not feeling lonely again. Because that's what having a heart means"_

 _Strife got up and looked back at the moon and said "How foolish"_

 **(End flashback)**

'I'm sorry Fury, but I still don't understand' he thought. He finally reached the Badlands, when he reached there, he noticed something was wrong. He started remembering what exactly happened in the afternoon while searching with his eyes. He finally realized 'Wait, where the bodies of Makatsuchi and Takatsuchi are?' He searched the entire field but he couldn't find them anywhere. They were gone.

XXX

 **Next morning, in the safehouse**

"Hmm, I don't what was on the fridge or what did you do, but this is delicious Fury!" War complimented. He was savoring everyof bit of his breakfast that Fury made. "Indeed Fury, you're a great cook!" Death-sensei complimented.

"Well thank you!" Fury replied smiling.

"By the way, Fury, how was last night with Strife, have you made any progress?" asked Death. Her smile immediately vanished and frowned, while shaking her head in response. She began to explain what happened in that night.

"Hmm, this will be more difficult than I thought it'd be… He's like the incarnation of the Void itself!" commented Death. Fury agreed he was like a void, where nothing happens and everything is forgotten. "Which, by the way, where is Strife?" asked War. Immediately Strife came out through the door asking for Death. "What is it Strife?"

"Last night I went to surveil a bit the Badlands and I noticed that the bodies of those two missing ninjas from the Stone were gone. No trace of them whatsoever, like, they just vanished"

"No signs of footprints or them being grabbed or anything?!" asked Death. Strife shook his head in response. "Strange, very strange. We need to figure out what happened!" Death then opened a scroll with various sensory beacons. "Everyone, grab these beacons and place them around the places where the forest is surrounding the Badlands and another one where we fought them. Understood?" The trio nodded in agreement and Team 5 left to complete their mission.

XXX

 **Living room, two days left before they leave the frontier**

Over the last two weeks, they have been waiting in the living room for the beacon receiver to beep, meaning that someone was close to the beacon. Since they put beacons in almost everywhere near the Badlands, they had more rest than usual. War kept asking Fury for more delicious plates, Strife kept disappearing to the roof or the top of the trees, Fury kept trying to find a way to explain the meaning of the heart and she figured she would have had to ask Strife about his past; and Death just slept on the sofa, waiting for the beacon to beep. Fury was so busy thinking about Strife, she figured she needed to take a break, so, she started thinking about the recent events, and found something interesting. "Ahm, Death-sensei?" Death opened his eyes and hummed. "In your fight against Makatsuchi, there was a moment where you used a mask, could you explain why or what was it?"

"Ah, the Mask, well, I prefer not to talk about it but I think you should know! What I've used in the fight against Makatsuchi was a Mythical Mask. The Mythical Masks are something that only a few ninjas get the chance of using it, but to awaken the Mask, to get its power, one must have a dark past and when he is in a position near death. Obviously, no one wants that!" Death explained.

"Were you?" asked Fury. "Yes. It was when I was in Team Apocalypse. One mission, we were supposed to learn about the Stone's secrets, which meant the victory for the Leaf. We got the secrets, but after that we were ambushed. We were badly outnumbered! My three teammates died right in front of me. After watching their deaths, the stone ninjas were starting to surround me. I felt like I was going to die right there! I couldn't think of anything that might have saved my ass! Then I felt an urge of rage and power inside me. My hand started to create purple flames on its own! Without thinking, I placed my hand in my face, which explains the burn marks I have" Death pointed to his burn marks on his cheeks and ear. "A few seconds later, my face was fully engulfed by my purple flames. It started to take shape of a skull. I slaughtered those bastards in seconds. Only then, when I took the skull Mask off my face, I realized I have awoken a Mythical Mask. The same mask I used to slay the countries of Sound and Waterfall, which, since they didn't have strong military power, they used the beasts who were living on those countries to increase it. They were planning on attacking our village! Before they could make a move, I killed everyone in those countries, animals included." War was in awe for hearing his big brother's accomplishments. Fury on the other hand, was mouth-opened. She couldn't believe what her sensei was saying. To think that such destructive power exists! Death caught on to it and comforted her, saying that he had full control over the Mask and he later found new friends and the best students he ever had.

XXX

 **Next day, midnight in the roof**

Strife was as usual in the roof admiring the beauty of the stars and of the moon. It was a crescent moon again. He heard a few footsteps coming towards him. "Hey Fury" he said instinctively. Fury spent some nights near him in the roof, looking at the sky, in the past two and half weeks. "Hey Strife" she answered. "I wanted to ask you about something"

"What is it?" he asked, wondering what she would ask him.

"I want to know about your past"

"What about it?"

"I want to understand what happened to your family and what caused you to lose your heart"

Strife sighed "Fury, we've talked about this before, I'm not comfortab-" He immediately got interrupted by Fury.

"I know! I just, feel that it would make things have more sense and it would help me answering your question on what having a heart means!"

He didn't want to tell anyone what happened to him and to his family, it would bring too many painful memories, but since it was Fury, and she truly wanted to help him, he accepted her request. "Very well, I will tell you" Fury had a huge smile on her face. She finally convinced him! She sat near him and listened.

"I used to live outside the village, in a small town, near the frontier between the Leaf and the Sand, with my father, my mother and my uncle. I lived happily. One day, when I was practicing with my new revolvers, one of the bullets rebounded and went through my knee. My uncle was nearby, and he took me back home, so my mother could fix it. When I entered home, my parents were acting strange. My mother guided me to the kitchen and grabbed me gently, but instead of taking out the bullet, she tried to cut my legs with a kitchen knife – a small tear came out through his left eye. Fury noticed it. – She was immediately shot by my uncle who had suspected something was awfully strange as well and was watching us in the corner. Then, my uncle told me to run away to the big city (the village Hidden in the Leaf) and ask for help. – Another tear came. – My father came out of the door and shot my uncle in his heart. Then he changed to the Dark Fist technique and tried to kill me. *tear* A-After all that happened, *tear* m-my *tear* e-eyes c-changed *tear* and I-I sud-sudenly had t-two revolvers *tear* and t-then I instinctively *starts crying a lot* killed my father!" Strife was now crying. Fury understood that trying to tell that event to anyone must have been hard, and keeping that to himself only made it worse! Now it all made sense! Why the villagers don't like him, for being responsible for his family's death, why he was always alone and how he didn't feel anything.

She placed her arm over him. He stiffened. She now knew why he didn't like physical contact, because he didn't trust anyone. "Shh, don't worry. You can trust me" Fury reassured Strife and he leaned to her, placing his head on top of her shoulder. She then continued. "I know it must be hard for you, but keeping that only to yourself only makes things worse. I'm glad you told me! You know you can count on me for everything!"

"Thanks Fury, for always being there for me" Fury posed her head on top of his and both stared at the moon. "Well, tomorrow we are leaving and I need to get some rest, sooo, good night Strife!" said Fury, standing up. Strife then smiled and waved his hand saying good night, Fury then noticed something on his eyes. His were starting to change. Besides the black cornea and a big thin yellow pupil, he now had a bright yellow semi-circle with constant small spikes covering the outside of the semi-circle below his pupil, being his pupil the center _**(1)**_.

"Now your eyes don't have the same feeling of emptiness of before!" said Fury.

"What do you mean Fury?" asked Strife in confusion. "Didn't you notice the spiky semi-circle below your pupil?" She then jumped down of the roof to the balcony and entered her bedroom. Strife picked up a small mirror and stared at his reflection, seeing his new eyes. 'She's right! I don't have the same feeling of emptiness in my eyes! And I thought I had my eyes fully matured!' thought Strife smiling.

XXX

 **Next morning, outside the safehouse**

"Do you have everything packed up?" asked Death. The trio nodded. "Good then let's get out of this depressing place!"

"Death-sensei! The beacon is beeping!" said Fury. "REALLY? NOW?! *sigh* Alright, fine let's check it out!"

After heading to the zone where the beacon beeped, they found two men frowning. They closed their distance and noticed they were the Mortal Duo of the Stone.

"But… we killed you… how is that possible?!" asked Death

"We told you we wanted the Karat. Since you didn't accept our request, we will now kill you all" Makatsuchi and Takatsuchi said, they had branches covering their bodies and their eyes were nothing but dark yellow. They rushed towards Team 5, who were preparing for the fight, Death drawing his scythes and his Mask, War his sword engulfed by white flames, Fury her chakra whip and Strife his revolvers and eyes.

Makatsuchi threw one of his axes to them and Takatsuchi jumped, made a few hand seals and said "Ground Smash jutsu!" He was going to slam the ground! Death threw his left scythe towards the axe, blocking it and stopped its momentum, making the scythe and axe stop in air, like they were floating. Death quickly reunited his right scythe with his left scythe, making a one big scythe, which he used to throw the axe to Takatsuchi, who was going to slam the ground. A tree branch came from Takatsuchi's body and grabbed the axe with ease, throwing it back to its partner. Takatsuchi slammed the ground making two different fields, one with only Death and Makatsuchi and the other one with the genins and Takatsuchi.

 _ **(Fight 1 - Death vs Makatsuchi)**_

Both engaged into a fierce kenjutsu fight. Axe vs scythe. No one seemed to have an advantage. Until a few branches came out from Makatsuchi's body and attacked Death, who quickly dodge by jumping back.

'What are those branches?! They're going to be a problem! What if I use my flames?' thought Death. He started to involve his scythes with his purple flames. He attacked the branches, which were quickly destroyed. Death smirked and Makatsuchi growled

"Don't think it's going to be that easy!" Makatsuchi said. He made a few hand seals and said "Water Splash jutsu!" a wave of water attacked Death's scythes, who quickly jumped out of range of the attack. Death made a few hand seals. "Majestic Fire Flower Jutsu!" Numerous fireballs were shot from his mouth and Makatsuchi quickly said "Water Barrier Jutsu!" A giant bubble surrounded Makatsuchi, covering him from the fireballs. He then said "Water Barrage Jutsu!" A stream of water came from the bubble and tried to drown Death, who said "Lightning Stream!" Rays of lightning came from his hand and emerged into his water barrage making Makatsuchi scream in pain since the lighting came in touch with the branches and then into his skin. Death quickly drew his big scythe and said "Great Fire Slash" he slashed the air and a giant was of flames flew towards Makatsuchi, burning the branches and his skin. Seeing Makatsuchi trying to resist, Death quickly slashed him in half. To make sure he didn't 'resurrect' ever again, he chopped his face and sealed into a scroll. He then went to see how his students were doing.

 _ **(Fight 2 War, Fury and Strife vs Takatsuchi)**_

Strife was firing bullets to his head, only to get blocked by the branches. Takatsuchi rushed towards Fury, deducing she was the weakest of them all. War tried to stop him saying "You won't pass!" only to get smacked in the face and thrown to the side. Strife's blood was boiling.

"Dust Substitution Jutsu!" Strife was now in front of Takatsuchi and gave him a punch with his Dark Fists, destroying all the branches. However, Takatsuchi was ready for it and tried to slash Strife, only to get his sword grabbed by Strife. He then punched Takatsuchi's saber, making it turn into pieces. "You will not touch her!" stated Strife 'Wait, why I am feeling this way when he was preparing to slash Fury?' Fury was in awe knowing her crush was protecting her with his life. Wanting to help, Fury grabbed Takatsuchi's head with her Multiple Whips jutsu, only get her hair grabbed and Takatsuchi threw here into a nearby rock, making her column crack.

"FURY!" Strife and War shouted. Both were now growling and visible chakra was being seen coming out of Strife. Dark yellow chakra. He looked back at War. War's eyes were changing, his iris and cornea were changing to blood red and his pupil was white. Red chakra was coming out of War now. "You will pay" Both said calmly.

Strife rushed Takatsuchi using his Dust Substitution without saying anything nor hand seals, and punched Takatsuchi's body. His branches were quickly destroyed but quickly recreated. War then jumped to Takatsuchi and said "Fire Slash!" A wave of flames flew towards Takatsuchi. War then made a few hand seals and said "Air Current!" A giant air current came from his mouth, which augmented his fire slash. Takatsuchi tried to dodge but Strife was grabbing one of his arms tightly. Takatsuchi started to struggle, wanting to get loose, without any success. Before the flames made contact, Strife quickly transported himself to outside the range of War's combo. He screamed in pain. After the flames vanished and all his branches burned down, Strife transported back to Takatsuchi's body. He picked him up by his neck and punched him in his stomach. He went flying towards War, who jumped and used his sword to slash Takatsuchi's head while airborne. Takatsuchi's head was now rolling in the ground. War picked his head and Strife transported himself to War's right side.

"Savage!" Death-sensei commented, he was standing up far back in the field.

"Were you watching us the whole time?! Not even considering interrupting the fight and help us?!" War asked. Death-sensei smiled and said "Why? You had everything under control!"

"Fury got hurt because you didn't help us earlier!" Strife retorted. "Sorry. Now, will you stay there whining or will you help and treat her?" Strife immediately ran towards Fury, gently sitting her up and started to heal her column.

"Shit! It's the second time something similar happens to me!" whined Fury. "Sorry for not being able to protect you earlier Fury" 'Wait, what am I saying?' Strife said and thought. Fury caught onto his confusion and said. "You're feeling like this because you're finally starting to understand the meaning of a heart!" Strife looked at her in surprise and confusion "When I got hurt, your body started to boil right?" Strife nodded and Fury said smiling "That's what it means to have a heart, when you feel something for another person!"

'So that's what a heart really is' he thought, finally understanding the concept.

"You know, I saw the whole fight, you and War were pretty amazing!" said Fury out loud, making War grin and Strife smirk.

"She's right! And War! You've already activated your eye's second phase!" said Death-sensei

"Oh yeah, you're right! I didn't even notice!" War replied. Death, War and Fury started laughing. Strife just let out a small giggle. Death noticed it and blinked his right red-eye to Fury, who grinned. "You're healed Fury" said Strife.

"Good! Now let's go home!" said Death.

"Yes Death-sensei!" for the first time, Fury, War AND Strife said it simultaneous. Usually it was only Fury and War. Things were starting to look good for the young Karat and Team 5!

 _ **If you're having trouble trying to picture Strife's new eyes, think of the semi-circle of my picture! ;)**_


	5. Unexpected series of events

_**A/N: I'm sorry! PLEASE DON'T BULLY ME! I wanted to update sooner but I got caught in a genjutsu which consisted me being with my family in the beautiful city of Paris for a week! I wish I knew how to release genjutsu! This chapter isn't going to be the exams yet, I still have a few things for our fellow ninjas. Please let me know in what aspect I can get better in the reviews and if the story is actually interesting/amusing. Anyway, hope you enjoy!**_

(On the village's gates)

"Alright guys, you have the rest of the weekend off! You deserved it! I'll do the report to the Hokage, ok?" asked Death. Fury and War grinned and Strife smirked.

"Come on Strife! Let's have some fun!" urged Fury. "Yeah! Let's go to the festival!" War followed her, both excited.

"Festival?" Strife asked, looking confused.

"Yeah! 1st September! The day when Absalom was killed by our First Hokage and the day our village was founded! Didn't you know?" War asked.

"I just didn't care"

"Well, come then, it'll be great fun! They say there will be a roller-coaster and a giant wheel with chairs, shooting stands and a lot more!" Fury said in awe.

"When will you guys go?"

"I need to take a shower and report to my father, but around we can meet at 8 pm on Ichiraku? We have dinner there and around 9 pm we'll start moving?" suggested. Fury agreed, understanding why he wanted them to meet there.

"I don't know… I must to do some things that I have postponed because of our mission..." said Strife.

"Wouldn't it be okay to have some fun and have a break?" asked Fury.

"I don't know... If I don't show up at 9 pm then I apologize in advance. Now, of you'll excuse me" Strife said politely and transported away.

"Well, at least he's considering! Comparing to a few weeks ago, he wouldn't even respond!" said War, trying to cheer up Fury. She smiled and both went to their estates.

XXX

(Meanwhile, on the Hokage tower)

"Wow! I mean, not often missions turn out like this! This is a first! Two zombie A-class missing ninjas, one of them defeated twice by three genins!" Lord Hokage stated in awe as he read the report Death gave to him. "But I have a question, Death." Death hummed in response "Why would they want Strife?"

"I don't know. I brought the heads of the two missing ninjas! Maybe we could get a few answers" suggested Death

"Very good. I will start the investigation and tell you the results tomorrow. You're dismissed"

"Yes Lord-Hokage!" Death said and left.

XXX

(7:50 pm)

Fury was walking slowly towards the ramen stand as she was hoping Strife would come. "Hey Fury!" it was War, coming out of the corner of the street. "Hey War" Fury replied with a sad expression.

"Thinking about him?" Fury nodded.

"I'm thinking about what he could be doing at this time that would make him so busy!"

"Just don't worry about it! He still has till 9 pm!"

(8:59 pm)

"1 minute left..." Fury said, in hopes he would show up. War sighed.

Fury looked at the clock signaling 9 pm and sighed "Shit... And I was filled with hop-" just before Fury could finish, Strife showed up with dark dust coming out of him "Sorry I'm late, you two" he said smirking. Fury was grinning and War shook his head laughing. "Of course you would show up at the last second! It's so yours!" War said. "What were you doing?" he asked.

"Remember what I said when we were meeting Death-sensei?" Fury nodded and War shook his head. "When I said that I liked doing some things that I didn't wish to talk about?

"OH! That! What about it?"

"I still don't" Both frowned. "Now, you were saying about trying the roller-coaster and the giant wheel, right?" both started smiling.

After walking some blocks, they have reached the entrance to the festival. There were many attractions, being the most common shooting for prizes and the most noticeable the roller-coaster and wheel.

"OH MY GOSH IT'S SO FREAKING CUTE!" shouted Fury. War and Strife have gotten the worst ear-ache ever!

"What?!" both asked.

"That bear! It is so cute I am going die!" she said pointing to the bear. It was one of the shooting practice stand's prizes. The grand one apparently, besides the bear were useless and shitty objects. "Strife! It's a shooting prize! It's your specialty!"

Strife leaned over to War and whispered "Do I have a choice?" War shook his head smirking. Strife sighed "Fine... Let's get this over with... Tell me the rules, please." he asked to the seller.

"The rules are simple; you just have to try to take down that little ninja. It's EASY! You have three tries!"

He picked the gun filled with plastic bullets. The seller initiated the game and the little ninja started moving randomly. He aimed and shot the ninja with ease. Odd. The ninja didn't fall! Strife knew something was wrong. He shot and hit it again. Strife smirked. Even though the ninja didn't fall, he knew just from the smirking seller that he was trying to trick him. Strife closed his left eye so the seller wouldn't see him activating his eyes. He started channeling his chakra to the last plastic ball, making it rougher. He shot and dust came out of the barrel. The bullet hit the little ninja and finally, made it fall.

The seller was stomped! He earned lots of money from fooling the costumers but he did it! Strife picked up the bear and gave it to Fury. Fury lost her breath as she started hugging the bear tightly, like a little girl. She then hugged Strife and kissed him in the cheek. He blushed of course. War whistled and went to his side "Nice one stallion!"

"What have I unleashed?" Strife said looking at her jumping and hugging the bear tightly saying-no, screaming "You're so CUTE!" That comment made War laugh. "Did I make the right choice, War?"

"Did you want her to scream every day on your ear 'how could you, you cold-hearted bastard'?" Strife eye-widened. The last part, the idea of screaming EVERYDAY on his ear, was just mind-blowing. He shook his head and War smirked. "What happened earlier? You missed your first two shots?" he asked.

"I was surprised too! I did hit the little ninja all the three times; I didn't know why it didn't fall at first…" Strife continued explaining to War what happened. After that, they went to calm Fury down and went for the next attraction, the roller-coaster.

The roller-coaster was monstrously huge! It had two loops, a couple flips, a checkpoint where you start going backwards and had seats which were SUSPENDED! Strife was trembling with fear.

"What's wrong, Strife?" asked War. "Afraid?" Strife shook hesitantly. He didn't want be seen as a chicken!

"Then let's go! Fury, are you coming?"

"I don't like high speeds. I'm not that crazy like you." she said, still hugging the bear.

(2:30 minutes left)

"Where's Strife?" asked Fury. War pointed to the other side of the alley, near some bushes. She went to see a vomiting Strife. "Why are you vomiting?!"

"High speed..."

"Strife can kill an A-class missing ninja but can't handle a roller-coaster! Haha!" War commented, immediately getting smacked in the face by Fury, who quickly turning to Strife. "Oh, you poor thing! Come here, let's got to the wheel"

"THE WHEEL?!" Strife asked concerned, he couldn't bare another machine!

"Oh don't worry! Even though it's higher than the roller-coaster, it is pretty slow! Trust me." Fury reassured him.

They both bought the tickets for the wheel. It was a giant white wheel with benches for two. Immediately, when Strife tried to sit down "Oh god it's shaking!"

Fury grabbed his hand and he stiffened right away. Her hand was so soft and gentle, it was nice to feel its touch but awkward since he wasn't used to people touching him and not harming him in the next second. She whispered in his ear "Stay close to me and don't move too much, otherwise it will shake."

"O-okay" the wheel started to move slowly. They could now see the beautiful sight of the village and its terrain. Fury leaned her head over Strife's shoulder. "Ahm... Fury... Don't overdo it, please"

"What do you mean? It's so nice!"

"Yeah and I agree but... It's just... *sigh*"

"What's wrong?"

"You're the first to actually do… _this…_ to me in I-don't-know-how-many years and it just feels... awkward..." she quickly withdraws her hand and head and frowns "I'm sorry"

"No, I mean, it's not your fault, you told me what happened to you and I understand." Fury tried to convince him. They were now on the highest point of the wheel and stopped there. Fury now was looking at the full moon. The moonlight heightened her beauty by shining through her skin. She looked sad though. Strife felt bad for her. He wanted to do something but what? Since he couldn't find an answer, he let his instincts take over. He kissed her in the cheek. Fury, who surely wasn't expecting that, blushed and looked to the now blushing Strife.

"What was that Strife?" she asked giggling.

"I j-just wanted to t-thank you for understanding. I didn't want to make you feel bad so I... did... _that_ " Strife was blushing so hard. Fury kissed him in the cheek and said laughing "Cold Heart Strife my ass, more like Sweetheart Strife!" Strife smiled shyly. They have reached the bottom and came to War.

"Strife, why are you blushing?"

"I ahm... How should I say this..." he knew of War's overprotectiveness of Fury and he didn't want to say that he _kissed_ her.

"I shook the bench by mistake and Strife almost fell and I grabbed him. He's blushing because he doesn't want to say that a _girl_ saved him" Fury lied and Strife noticed and decided to follow the act.

"You didn't save me! I had that under control, I was about to transport back to safety!"

"Well whatever, let's go home" War said laughing at the awkward moment.

A couple minutes later, War was already in his estate and Fury and Strife were alone again.

"Thanks for saving me back there, I didn't want to make War pissed because of _that_ " Strife said.

"Yeah, no problem! You know, War is fine with you hanging out with me, so you're the first person that War actually accepts someone to be alone with me!"

"Really? That's good to know"

"Oh, is that right?"

"Yeah, it's nice" she was hoping a little blush but whatever.

"Well, we've arrived your estate, Strife."

"So? I'm still going to take you home" Fury now was the one blushing.

"Ahm... Thanks!"

"Do I see a little blush on your face, Fury?" Fury frowned and nodded slightly and Strife laughed a bit.

"You bastard..." Strife laughed a bit more

"I also think highly of you" Strife smirked and Fury smiled a bit. "There it is, the smile I was looking for" she started looking into his yellow eyes. They were not sad and lonely, they were happy and complete. She smiled even more.  
"Well, we've arrived" he said

"Thanks Strife"

"No, thank you Fury, you're the one who helped me"

"I just hate seeing people like you were a couple weeks ago"

"You're such an innocent and kind soul" Strife smirked.

"Oh stop it you!"

"Good night Fury"

"Good night Strife" Strife quickly transported away and Fury went to her estate.

XXX

Fury woke up early and wanted to meet up with his friends. After that night with War and Strife, more particularly with Strife, she was in such a good mood that wanted to meet them again and have so much fun. She went to get Strife first, since he was the closest one to her. She knocked but had no response, she knocked and still nothing. 'Maybe he's still sleeping. I woke up early though' Fury thought. 'Maybe I'll check on War and then come back!'

She was jumping with happiness like a little girl who just finished eating an ice cream towards the Zartag. She knocked first and Death-sensei received her, asking if it was because of War. Fury nodded and Death called him. War came to the door grinning and both went to get the young Karat.

They knocked a few times but the Karat didn't answer. "Maybe he's not home" War guessed.

"Let me find out where he is" she began changing her chakra to sensory mode and searched for Strife. "Found him, he's in the church!"

"The church?! I don't believe!" War said.

"Well, then let's go meet him!"

XXX

Strife was leaving the church with three white gardenias (flowers) and was wondering what were two retards doing jumping in the lamppost saying, no, screaming his name. He got closer, ready to teleport away if they were fangirls, but then realized that they were War and Fury. Strife face-palmed and sighed, asking himself how was he friends with those two.

"Couldn't you two be louder?" asked Strife sarcastically.

"Haha, very funny!" replied Fury

"HAHA, you actually go to the church?! I cannot believe this!" War just kept laughing. Strife just raised the right eyebrow. "Only grannies come here to pray for God to go to heaven! Were you doing the same?"

"I was praying for my family" War immediately knew the terrible mistake he had done and begged for mercy and forgiveness. "Stop being so annoying and shut up. You didn't know" War was relieved.

"What about the flowers?" Fury asked.

"It's one for each of my family. One for my father, another for my mother and the last for my uncle. I'm going to put these on their grave."

"You're father and mother? Weren't they the ones who tried to murder you?" Fury asked, making the young Karat frown with sadness and stare the beautiful gardenias.

"Yeah, what the hell? Why would you pray for them? Doesn't make any se-ARGHH!" Fury smacked him in the head, shaking her heard in disappointment. 'Note to self: teach War how to not be a jerk'

"Even though they tried to kill me, they still gave me 6 years full of happiness and I'm thankful for that. Now, I need to go. See you later"

"Can we go too?" asked Fury.

Strife sighed "Sure just... Don't be annoying..."

War commented "No worries! I won't talk too much!"

"... Or I'll make you a grave next to my family" Strife continued. War and Fury gulped.

"Countonus! Wewon'tmakeasound!" both said in one breath, after hearing Strife's threat. After that, they started moving towards the graveyard, with Strife telling a few of his happiest moments with his family. There were nearly arriving, they only needed to turn left and walk a few blocks, but Strife turned right headed towards the Hokage monument.

"Where are you going? The cemetery is the other way!" warned Strife.

"Who said that they were there?" Fury and War were now confused. Usually, when someone dear dies, the families put their deceased members on the cemetery. "Then, where did you bury them?" Fury asked.

The young Karat just lifted his hands up to his friends and they hesitantly took it. Strife activated his eyes and transported them to the top of the cliff where the Hokage Monument was.

"That view though!" War commented. He and Fury were in awe at the sudden change of places. "They are buried in the Hokage Monument?"

"Of course not, you dumbass! We still have to walk" Sometimes Strife wondered if War was making that on purpose or he was really that dumb.

They started walking through Hashirama's Forest. It was created by the First Hokage after his fight against Absalom. Since that fight destroyed the entire landscape, the First Hokage used his powers to cover the battlefield into a large forest.

They ventured forward, deep inside to its heart, as they came across a small island. It was beautiful! In the center of the island was a huge bright-green weeping willow with green fresh and a clean deep-blue river grass surrounding.

Strife quickly teleported to the three crosses in front of the weeping willow and placed each gardenias in front of each cross. The names that were in the crosses were Mercy Karat, Hope Karat and Redemption Karat. After placing the white flowers, Strife reunited with pretty Minz and the hyperactive Zartag.

"Is there where they are?"/"What's with the big sad tree?" Fury and War asked Strife.

"Yes, Fury, that's where are. Mercy Karat was my father, Hope Karat my mother and Redemption Karat my uncle. And for the 'big sad tree', War, it's a weeping willow. Not a regular one, this one is a chakra-tree, meaning that instead of growing from a normal seed, it grows from a seed made out of chakra of the user"

"We Karats, when we plant our chakra-seed, it develops into a weeping willow. The weeping willow grows with the user, depending on the user's events".

"How so?" Fury asked.

"I'll say an example. After burying my family's corpses, I planted a chakra-seed nearby, so I could always be with them in spirit, and since I had experienced a lot of strong emotions till that moment, it instantly grew up two meters high and half a meter large. It now has 4 meters high and a meter and half large."

"Sooo, depending on how emotional you get, it grows proportionally to the intensity of the same?" Fury asked and Strife nodded.

After a few minutes contemplating on how peaceful and beautiful, hell, even War didn't complain about how boring that was or urging to go; they decided to start moving back home.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" a giant lightning ray came from someone standing on on of the branches of some high trees.

"What the-Who are you?" asked War.

"My name is Aizen Sasoto and I'm here to bring the Karat with me!"

"Guys, grab my hand" Strife whispered them, without even moving an inch of his mouth. They nodded and each held one of his hands. Aizen was looking confused.

"You want to come as well? HOW CUTE! But I'm afraid I can't bring you two, and since you're witnesses, I'm afraid you two must die!" after hearing Aizen's threat, Strife teleported Fury and War to outside the forest.

"Foolish brats, thinking they can escape" stated Aizen with a smirk.

XXX

(Meanwhile, outside the forest)

"Why didn't you bring us to village? We could get help! Why not fight him in the forest" War asked confused.

"Because Aizen would have caused wreckage in the village! And I don't want him to destroy my family's graves. Besides, we need to plan out things" Strife replied, with his hands scratching his head. Strife was nervous.

"He's right War." Fury said

"Who is this Aizen?"

"He's an S-class missing ninja from the Cloud Country who specializes in explosives. He has done lots of demolition jobs, being the most famous..." Fury frowned and Strife started clenching his fist, activating his Dark Fists.

"What? What was his most famous job?" War asked preoccupied. He had never seen Strife with that much rage, not even in the fight against Takatsuchi, nor Fury failing to say a sentence.

"EXPLODING HALF OF THE KARAT CLAN!" Aizen shouted his biggest accomplished. Strife was now growling as War gasped eye-widened. "Since that job, the Karat's clan head, along with his brother and pregnant wife, exiled to an unknown location. My job was to find the pregnant woman, but I couldn't find them, so, when I heard about a 6-year old Karat killed his entire family and ran away, I figured it must have been the child from the clan head's wife. I spent the last few years searching for you and now, here I am, to kill THE LAST KARAT and end that accursed bloodline!"

"Strife... "War said, imagining the pain of such loss.

"War. Activate your eyes. Fury. Draw your whip. NOW!" Strife ordered. "If we run, we will get outrun in seconds, since he uses the Lightning Bolt jutsu to teleport himself. He uses remote explosive clay and lighting techniques so don't attack so recklessly. He's also a tactician so keep your eyes and mind open. We are going to kill this bastard! Right here! Right now!" with that said the motivation had risen up for the trio.

"Such motivated words. However, you are only delaying the inevitable. You will all die!"

 _(Fight - Strife/Fury/War vs Aizen)_

Aizen quickly threw 4 pieces of explosive clay towards the group and 1 discreetly to his current location and waited for the genin's move.

Strife changed his Dark Fists to his revolvers and did a quick burst with his 4-barreled revolver, making the clay explode and form a smokescreen. War drew his sword and with his eyes' prowess engulfed his white sword in blood red flames and slashed the air, making a wave of flames flying towards Aizen and jumped towards him. Meanwhile, Fury made a few hand seals and said "Air Current". A rather strong air current came out of Fury's mouth and quickly joined the wave of flames, making it bigger and hotter.

Aizen, who couldn't see a thing due to the smokescreen, made a clay clone and hid himself on the ground. The clone, as the smokescreen cleared, saw the giant wave of flames and jumped away to another branch, still not being able to shake them off, he jumped to another branch, barely missing the wave. War then jumped to the branch where Aizen was initially. Aizen then made a hand seal.

"WAR, GET OUT OF THERE!" ordered Strife. War realized what was going and only takes cover behind his sword. The blazing sword actually covered him from most of the damage, because of his thickness and length. His left arm however, was badly damaged. Fury and Strife reached War. "Fury, give me cover!" War started spinning her whip clock-wise and said "Spiral Whip". A big orb of ping chakra leaked from the whip and started covering the trio. Meanwhile, Strife was healing War's arm.

"This is going to be difficult" Fury said.

"I told you War to be careful!"

"I'm sorry; I just… saw an opportunity and started feeling excited"

"Well, whatever, you're good now, just don't be so reckless. We need a plan though"

"Damn it!"

"What is it Fury?"

"He keeps sending clay to my barrier and exploding, I don't know if I can hold much longer!"

"Bastard! Alright, quick, listen up; the moment Fury drops the barrier I will shot the remaining clay. After, War you will make a distraction by rushing towards him and make a couple fire slashes so he gets busy. When he does, I will shoot him in the head"

"But won't he dodge? You said it yourself, he's a tactician, and he should expect that!" War said.

"You haven't noticed that Aizen's using a clone?" War now looked confused and Fury realized

"That's why I have been able to hold him this much longer!" Strife nodded and War finally got it.

"Ready?" Both nodded and prepared for the attack.

Aizen was still throwing clay at the pink chakra orb and he didn't seem to stop. Then, the chakra orb quickly disappeared and explosions were starting to go off. Strife was firing to the falling clay, making it explode.

Aizen then sees a couple of fire slashes coming off the smokescreen that the exploding clay made. He quickly counters with a speechless and a few hand signs and creates a lightning shield, which is able to distort the waves, making it useless.

Aizen was then grabbed by Fury, who was hiding behind him, with the Multiple Whips Grab. Aizen tried to counter by channeling lightning to the zones where he was being grabbed but Fury, from previous experiences, countered by also channeling lightning to the whips, nullifying Aizen's attempt to get away.

Strife was quick to react and when he finally had a clear shot, he pulled the trigger of his silver powered revolver and killed him with one clean shot in his brain. After the shot connected, Fury quickly withdrew her whips, which was actually her hair, and War jumped to a nearby branch. Aizen then began to swell and exploded afterwards.

"Well, I have to say, I'm impressed! You actually defeated one of my clay clones. You're pretty good for a couple genins! Though, I'm afraid I'm out of time, so… say your last words if you want" Aizen said smirking behind them, leaning against a nearby branch. The duo gulped and Strife's rage came back and growled.

"Bastard… I'll kill you!" Strife retorted.

"Not the last words I would have chosen but whatever" Aizen commented and Strife let out a war cry and teleported behind Aizen. Aizen then used the Lightning Bolt technique and quickly went to Strife's back, who was cooking a fist. "Antsy, aren't we?" Aizen neutralized him by hitting a pressure point on his neck, disabling all Strife's chances of moving for a couple minutes, and fell to the ground. "One down, two to go".

"STRIFE!" Both screamed and started facing Aizen, hoping Strife or someone would show up to save them.

XXX

(Meanwhile, on the Hokage's office)

"You wanted to see me Lord Hokage?"

"Yes Death, I wanted to tell about the results of our investigation on the Mortal Duo of the Stone's brains."

"Interesting! What have you found?"

"Nothing"

"Ah that's nice-wait, what? What do you mean you found nothing?"

"Exactly what I meant. Nothing. Inside those brains, there was nothing. No memories, nothing"

"Well that's unfortunate! Any ideas why?"

"Hmm, in the report, you said that they just disappeared without a trace, according to Strife, and then they appeared with tree-branches covering their bodies and had glowing dark yellow eyes, without cornea or pupil"

"That is correct, Lord Hokage"

"Since your team killed them before that event, does that mean that they were somehow possessed?" the Hokage made a hunch.

"That would explain why they didn't have anything in their brains, but by whom?"

"I don't know, but we will keep investigating. I also wonder why they would want Strife…"

"I don't know too, Lord Hokage. I heard rumors that he is the true heir to the clan, and apparently, he is the only Karat alive. Is that the reason?"

"If that's the reason, then I want you to keep an eye for him. Protect him at all cost."

"Understood Lord Hokage"

"By the way, before you leave, how is he doing in the team?"

"Well, Strife was thankful at first that he wasn't with some crazy fangirls and was actually placed with his friends, though he still continued with his cold attitude. He truly is a prodigy. He makes quick effective plans in seconds and makes use of all of his abilities, which some of them are pretty mind-blowing in my opinion. After his eyes matured he got even colder and affirmed in his fight with Takatsuchi that he didn't know what a heart meant. However, Fury helped him and he now cares more for his teammates and he seems happy at the moment"

"That's good to know. I was actually expecting him to open up later, not so soon, not that I'm complaining, I'm actually happ-" Lord Hokage's comment was interrupted by a sudden explosion of chakra on top of the Hokage monument's forest, which could be seen in the Hokage's tower. It was dark yellow chakra wave.

"That chakra's signature is so familiar. It's from… STRIFE! Excuse me Lord Hokage, I need to go" Death quickly transported in a swirl of flames. The old Hokage just sighed, wondering what in the God's name happened.

XXX

(A few minutes ago, in Hashirama's forest)

Strife was leaning against the tree he just fell, trying to regain full control of his body. He watched as Fury and War tried their best to hold their own against the elite demolitionist. War tried to confront him in close-quarters fight with his sword but was outmatched, since Aizen used his Lightning Bolt to move at greater speed and his clay for more explosive power. War then cut deep into the branch and said "Fire Wave". A large orb of flames came from War's sword and tried to push Aizen off, but Aizen used the Lightning Stream jutsu to distort the wave and eventually put it off. War was almost out of chakra so it was easy for Aizen to hit a pressure point in his back and fell to the ground emotionless.

Strife then heard Fury shouting War's name and then heard something he couldn't quite get it and summoned a large spider. Wait, what? Did Fury just summon a huge ass spider? Strife the noticed her eyes have changed to a white pupil and a pink iris and cornea with a black cross in the center. The spider was actually giving problems to Aizen, since spiders are resistant to electricity and the fact that it was an invertebrate with rigid outer coating with about 5 stories high, it pretty much nullified Aizen's clay, until the point Aizen made a clay clone, which had the double of his height and length, and made his clone being eaten and explode inside the spider, which caused a huge smokescreen, which Aizen used it to silently knock out Fury.

Aizen then proceeded to tie War and Fury up on the tree in front of where Strife was. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Aizen's Show, and our guest of honor is the last, and ironically, the heir to the Karat clan. Today, we will witness our handsome host, Aizen, finish, once and for all, the Karat clan! We will now move on to our guest's final words. Have you, good sir, anything to see to our dear spectators?"

Strife could only frown and shake his head, since he couldn't facepalm. "Retard"

"WOW! Straight into my heart! How could you! And I thought we were getting along! Well, moving that aside, we will proceed now to the execution. Please, make some noise!"

"Strife, please get up! Save yourself!" urged Fury crying "MOVE dammit!" War shouted, trying to resist the crying.

"I'm sorry guys. I guess this is the end. I was lucky to have you two as my friends. I know I have been a pain in the ass, not just me though, but I truly loved all those moments we have been together. Thank you" Strife said this smiling. Not just a fake smile, like someone would do to cheer up, but a genuine one. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly and heavily, and opened again, to see Aizen grabbing a kunai and preparing to swing it to Strife. "See you next life, Fury and War, my friends" Both started crying and frowned, so they couldn't see his friend die. Strife then looked Aizen in his dark eyes as he swung his kunai to Strife's throat.

The moment Aizen swung his kunai, and the closer it got to the young Karat's throat, the slower the world got. He started thinking of all the people that have helped him. His uncle Redemption, his father Mercy, his mother Hope, his sensei Death, his best friends Fury and War.

After thinking of all the moments he had shared with all of them, he started feeling something inside him. Not rage. Not despair. Not regret. Nothing of that sort. It was determination. After looking at his friends once again and started thinking of his past experiences with them, he felt determined to protect all them. He then noticed that his whole body was covered in dark dust. Fury and War were shocked about his transformation. Even Aizen stopped halfway to see what the hell was happening to him. He shook his thoughts and swung again his kunai to Strife.

Strife simply said, in the calmest tone possible "Dark Dust Explosion" A dark orb came out of Strife and pushed Aizen hard to another tree. It also knocked the few trees that were near him. Aizen just kneeled in pain, not expecting that. He then looked at Strife.

Strife was engulfed by his Dark Dust, like it was part of him. Aizen, War and Fury then saw all of the Dark Dust being moved to his face. Strife screamed in pain as the dark material engulfed his whole head. After a while, Strife recovered from his pain and now faced the trio in front of them.

' _A M-Myth…Mythical…Mask?! Impossible!_ ' the trio thought. Strife's mask was silver white with holes for his eyes and covered his whole head with the exception of his dark hair on the back. There were outlines in the mask, which made possible for the people watching to differentiate the mouth from his nose or his cheeks from his ears. The Mask also had a small yellow pentagonal gem on his forehead, a small yellow triangle gem on his nose and a small yellow diamond-shape gem on each eyebrow and a few scratches that came out of the same gems.

"B-but…HOW?!" Aizen asked, demanding for immediate answers. Never in his life saw someone bring for the first time a Mythical Mask and only faced one user, who was Death, and it was the hardest fight he ever fought.

"The Mythical Masks are something that only a few ninjas get the chance of using it, but to awaken the Mask, to get its power, one must have a dark past and when he is in a position near death" Fury quoted his sensei's words, when they were alone in the Badlands doing surveillance, still shocked. Aizen heard her words. ' _Dark past? Near death position?'_

"No matter, he just awoken the Mask, he doesn't even know how it works! Easy kill! Someone who uses something with no control over it has a death wish!"

" **Death wish? The one who wields it? Or the one who goes against it?** " Strife spoke at last. His voice seemed deeper and more low-pitched than before. It felt like it was some kind of demonic creature who was talking.

Strife quickly activated his Dark Fists and looked straight into Aizen's eyes. " **Let's see who truly has a death wish, shall we?** " Aizen growled and quickly using his Lightning Bolt appeared right in front of Strife while cooking a punch. Strife noticed his fist was covered in clay.

Strife simply ducked and grabbed his arm and hit a pressure point. Aizen growled in pain as he looked at Strife "HOW DID YOU DODGE MY ATTACK? NO ONE HAS EVER DONE IT BECAUSE I WAS TOO FAST!"

" **Simple, I was faster"** Aizen now looked in disbelief. " **I've noticed that this Mythical Mask of mine lets me have more control and speed of my body, making my movements quicker and more powerful than before. Now, I don't know about you, but I want to do a test drive"**

"YOU THINK THIS IS SOME KIND OF GAME?! I'LL SHOW YOU TRUE SPEED AND POWER!" With that said, the two started a fierce fight. Fury and War could only see a trail of dark chakra going up against the trail of blue chakra.

After a few minutes of War and Fury watching in awe the battle between black and blue, Death appeared preoccupied "Fury! War! What happened? Where's Strife?" he asked as he released the pressure points. Finally able to move, Fury and War, still shocked, pointed to the battle.

Death was only able a trail of black going up against a blue one 'Strife?' The pace of the battle was so fast he couldn't distinguish Strife from whatever foe he was up against.

Strife finally was able to pierce through Aizen's defense and punched him hard to ground. Aizen's body flew to the ground and was currently laying down on the ground in front of Death.

"Aizen Sasoto?!" Death was shocked, as he couldn't understand why was his rival was doing there, and because Strife actually defeated him! Speaking of Strife, he was standing in front of them. Death could now see that he had awoken a Mythical Mask.

"Hn, you finally awoke your Mask!"

"You knew this would have happened eventually?" asked Strife as he took off his Mask and stared at it.

"Think about it, the requirements were to have a dark sad past and be in life or death situation. You had already achieved the first condition so it was only a matter of time till you were between the wall and the sword! I actually expected you to awake it in your fight in the Badlands..."

"Makes sense, but what do we do with Aizen? Can I kill him?" asked Strife smirking, back to his normal voice. Fury and War gasped.

"No, Strife, you can't! I may understand why you want to kill him that bad but it will be more beneficial to us if we take him to the Torture&Interrogation Department"

"Nahh, no worries, at least I know I can kick his ass" Strife agreed, making Fury and War sigh in relief and Death smirk. Strife then looked to his two best friends and remembered of something "Hey, Death-sensei" Death hummed in response as he was placing the unconscious Aizen in his shoulder "Fury unlocked her eyes' second phase" Fury had a faint blush and Strife just smiled at her.

"Is that so? Well congratulations Fury! Would you mind summon a large bird to bring us back home?"

Fury shook her head and as she activated her eyes, she slammed the ground saying Eagle. A few instances later, a puff of smoke appeared and revealed a giant royal eagle with pink eyes. War was amazed and Death and Strife smirked. "Come on! She doesn't bite!" With that said, Team 5 went back to the village, all tired, with Strife still staring at his mask, lost in thought, Fury living her dream of flying, War whining about wanting some ramen, and Death proud of his team.

 _ **A/N: If you still have issue visualizing Strife's Mythical Mask, just search on google '**_ _Strife Helmet Darksiders'_


	6. Preparing for the Chunnin Exam - part 1

_**A/N: Hey guys! Thank you for all the support you gave me in the past two weeks! It has motivated me more to keep writing this story! If you have any question, I will be glad to answer it for you! Anyways, leave a review if you liked it and I hope you enjoy ^^**_

XXX

"Sooo, where do you want us to go, Death-sensei?" asked Fury. They were currently flying over the village in a giant pink bird with white striped coming out of its eyes and covering all of its body, and enjoying their time looking at beautiful sunset and the clouds.

"Let's report first to the Hokage" Fury nodded and commanded the bird to fly in the direction of the Hokage.

"Can't we enjoy the view for a few more minutes?" ask Strife. He had a point though, it was a one-of-a-kind one, and it would be a waste if they were to leave in a rush.

"I'm afraid we can't, this is urgent!" Strife sighed with Death's reply.

"Do I need to go?" Strife asked

"Why wouldn't you want to go?" asked Death curiously.

"First reason, it's boring; second reason, I have better things to do; third reason, I need to let the Mythical Mask's subject sink in. I still can't believe I got one!"

"Fair enough. Tell you what, we show up and you show your Mask to the Hokage and then you can go, ok?"

"Fine…"

XXX

Team 5 entered the office of the Hokage, after hearing the Hokage's permission. "May Team 5 please explain me what happened?" Death dropped Aizen's body in front of the desk and Strife showed his Mask, which made the old Hokage gasp "Y-you… You have awoken a Mythical Mask?! And WHY is Aizen Sasoto here?"

"I can explain it" Strife said and Death nodded, giving him permission. "I went to Hashirama's Forest to pray for my deceased parents but Aizen showed up and we three" points to himself, Fury and War, "tried to take him down, we held our own against one of his clones but we were hopeless against him. He then tried to execute me and that's where I awoke this Mask. We started a fight but I don't remember anything about it. Eventually I woke up and found Aizen in the ground and here we are now."

"Hmm, so you didn't control your Mask?" asked the old Hokage.

"No"

"But, you controlled it in the fight against that retard!" War asked

"Retard?" asked the Hokage

"Yes, he acted like a retard and a jerk back there!" Fury answered him

"I wasn't in control, my Mask was. I let my emotions get in the way and my Mask took advantage of me and controlled me for a few minutes. I'm impressed I didn't kill him back there…"

"How exactly did the Mask controlled you? Does it have a will of its own?" Asked War and Hokage

"I can answer that for you" Death intervened "It was the same for me, back in the third Great Ninja War. I got pinned down and I heard a voice in my head that told me to get up and place my hand in my face. It would give me power in exchange for some freedom. After obeying it, I got unconscious and when I came back, it was already over. The only explanation I got was that my Mask took control of my body and killed the poor guys. Same thing happened in the Waterfalls and Sound. I let the Mask take over and I slayed everything in there."

"Can't you control it? You told me in the Badlands that you controlled it" Fury asked.

"Yes, it's controllable"

"How?" asked Strife

"I will tell you tomorrow in our training grounds" Strife hummed in response

"Hey, Death-sensei?" Death looked back at Strife "What did you feel when you first got the Mask?"

"Ahm… I think it was mostly rage and despair. I can't remember exactly. Why? You felt the same?"

"Interesting… No I didn't feel any of those. It was determination. I think…"

"Determination?" "Care to explain?" Everyone asked.

"Well, I only remember a few things but, when Aizen was going to execute me, I started thinking on every happy moment I had and I felt determination to protect those who I consider friends" Death smirked and the rest were looking confused. "That's when I noticed my body was covered by my Dark Dust. I simply said a jutsu, which I don't remember neither using nor knowing it and I passed out as the Dark Dust came to my face. Now that I think of it, I didn't hear any voice in my head!"

'It seems his Demon isn't as horrible and nasty as mine' Death thought.

"Interesting… well, that's all I needed to know. You're dismissed except Death." Team 5 nodded.

"You heard him? Determination!" Death stated in awe.

"It seems his demon seems friendly, since it gave his power without asking for anything like it did for you"

"Yeah, it will be easy for him to control it… by the way, would you mind investigate this douchebag's brains? He was also looking for Strife and apparently for a long time!"

"Very well, I will send him to Morino Ibiki. He was begging for a good interrogation for a long time after all! You're dismissed"

XXX

Team 5 was currently waiting for his sensei in training grounds 5; Fury was playing with her summoned cat, War was thinking about ramen, Strife leaning against a nearby tree and the cat hiding behind Strife from Fury. Strife was currently looking at the small pink cat, wondering why she would hide from her summoner. But then he looked to Fury and understood why, and proceeded to pick the cat up. Interestingly, the cat accepted without resistance and begged for Strife to cuddle him by looking into his yellow eyes.

"It seems she likes you!" Fury noted. She noticed the resemblance between Strife and cats in general. Both had the same eyes, both were independent, both were smart, both like to be alone most of the time and both are nocturne.

"She does" Strife said as he continued to cuddle gently her head. The cat continued to purr with every movement he made.

"Sorry I'm late. I was preparing the requirements for the ritual" Death-sensei said as he appeared in a swirl of purple flames, with a cup of ink and a brush.

"Ritual?" the three genins asked.

"Ah yes, I didn't tell you, did I? A ritual that Strife has to make to connect himself with the Mask"

"Oh, I see, but what's with the ink and the brush?" War asked

"I will make with these a ' _peace-zone'_. It's a zone where when standing on, it allows the user to concentrate a lot more by disabling every sound. And I will make a barrier in case he doesn't connect"

"Sounds boring", "I like it!" "In case he doesn't connect?" War, Strife and Fury said.

"Yes Fury, something might happen between their connections, I'm just being cautions, and I don't want to fight a Mythical Mask! Besides, I believe Strife will make it through!" Death reassured Fury as he finished making the peace-zone and started making the barrier. The peace-zone was a medium-size circle with a 4 pointed shuriken. Meanwhile, Death finished making the barrier. It was large circle with triangles surrounding the circle.

"Alright, it's all done! Now, Strife, I want you to meditate in the center of the peace-zone until you reach your mindscape and make the connection." Strife nodded and started meditating in the peace-zone _***(Think how Naruto meditates to get his sage mode)***_ He started by breathing deeply and slowly. It felt so nice. Even though he couldn't hear anything, he could sense everything around him, like he was connected to nature itself. That's when he reached his mindscape. He opened his eyes and saw a big green forest and path. Since the path started where he was standing, he started walking it. After walking a few meters, he saw a small island with a big weeping willow and a blue-ocean river surrounding it. He tried to teleport to the tree but he couldn't. ' _I guess this is my mindscape. I'm surprised to see it is this lively!'_

" **Indeed! The pretty girl sure made you happier!"** A voice came behind Strife. Strife's instincts kicked in and he tried to punch the one with his Dark Fists. But, since it was his mindscape, he couldn't do any jutsus and his punch went right through the figure. He got scared and fell backwards, while taking a big look at the figure. It was a gorgeous female with dark dust coming out of his body constantly. She had a very desirable body with a tail coming out of her and her face reminded of her mother. She had yellow short hair, yellow-sun like eyes and pointy ears.

"Wha-Who are you?! What are you doing here?! And more importantly, WHY ARE YOU NAKED?!" Strife asked shocked with a strong blush, since her private parts were the only ones covered by Dark Dust. He only noticed it now because her whole body was black like his dust.

" **Kukuku, you humans amuse me so much!"** the woman said giggling " **I am a demon feline, my name is Kettei and as for why I am naked, I like to feel the soft grass! If you don't like what you see, I can always wear more fur!** " she suggested and seeing Strife's red face, she starting using her dusts to cover her up.

"Okay now I can talk! Why would I have a demon inside of me? I now I sometimes act like one but I wouldn't imagine I really had one in me!" said the poor Karat, shaking his naughty thoughts.

" **Kukuku, silly human, I was created the moment you killed your family, I am a part of you and I grew up with you!"**

"Makes sense… wait, are you the Mythical Mask?"

" **What makes you think that?"** Kettei asked curiously.

"I heard Death-sensei saying I awoke it because of my past and that fight against Aizen that almost got me killed, and the mask has a will of its own, so I guessed you are the Mask"

" **Very observant, I already like you human! Indeed, I am your Mythical Mask"**

"Why would you save me?"

" **Well, since I am a part of you, if you die I would have died too, so I lent you my power, I could have asked you something for exchange like the other demons do but I'm not like that"**

"Why wasn't I in control?"

" **You didn't have the experience to fight him. He had more strength but I had more speed. To win, one would have to be more experienced than the other and since I have thousands of years, it was easy for me! Besides, with you fighting him back there with your unstable emotions, you would have died in seconds!"**

"I guess you're right. So, about this connection of ours that my sensei told me"

" **I know what you're thinking, and yes, I agree. We are both alike and I don't see any reason to not work with you"**

"Good, so, we just need to say 'Yes I agree to cooperate' or something like that or do we need to write or do something?"

" **You just need to activate the Mask here and I just need to accept. Do it"** Strife nodded and started channeling chakra to his hand as he put it in front of his face. Immediately, Kettei started fading into dark dust and flew to Strife's hand and then head. Strife was now with his Mythical Mask.

' _Odd. Wasn't I supposed to feel pain like last time?'_ he wondered.

' _ **No, you don't! That was only the first time! The next ones are painless."**_

' _Wait, KETTEI?! Is that you? Why are you in my thoughts?'_

' _ **First reason, we are in the mindscape and second reason, I am now fully connected to you, so I will be able to talk to you with or without the presence of the Mask! By the way, if you call by my name, you can summon my Mask quickly and without movements!'**_

' _Is that so? That's good! Wait, in the beginning, I wondered why my mindscape was so peaceful and nice instead of cold and you said the pretty girl made me happy. How so?'_

' _ **That Minz beauty that is constantly looking and caring for you made you understand emotions. She's the main reason why this is forest is so green and lively. A few years ago it was a dead one!'**_

' _You mean Fury? She's constantly caring about me? Why?'_

' _ **That's something you have to find out for yourself! I am not going to say it out loud. Besides it would make things less interesting and I was just being mean to her'**_

' _Enough talking about her, how do I leave the mindscape?'_

' _ **Just imagine this like a genjutsu, how do you break it?'**_

' _Clapping my hands and say kai or stop the flow of chakra? Is that simple? Okay, let's leave this place then_ _ **!'**_ Strife proceeded to stop the flow the chakra and was back to the real world. He also noticed that he was currently wearing his Mask. " **Hey, Death-sensei, I made it!"**

"Good! Show it to me!" Strife then took off his Mask and broke it, making it fall and crumble to Dark Dust. He then shouted "KETTEI!" and dark dust was swirling to Strife's face. " **See, I told you!"**

"Way to go Strife!" "I knew you could it!" War and Fury congratulate him

"Nice, now listen up, have you heard about the chunnin exams?"

"It's an exam we need to take it in order to get promoted?" War answered.

"Correct! It starts in a month and I was wondered if you wanted to go. I know Strife has already what it takes to be chunnin but you two need to work a bit! What you say?"

"Of course we will attend the exams! We will all be chunnin when we finish the exams!" War assured and Fury nodded with determination. Strife just smirked.

"Nice, now I will work on you two for the next month. Strife I want to you to meditate as much as possible and make Kettei train you. After the next month, I will make you spar with Fury and War, okay?" Strife nodded.

"Who's Kettei?" Fury and War asked. Death sweat-dropped and Strife facepalmed.

"Shit, I screwed up _"_ Death asked and Strife nodded. "Well, I will tell you but you need to promise to not talk about it! It's an S-rank secret!" War and Fury gulped and nodded. "Kettei is the Strife's Mask"

"He's his Mask? So he's a part of him?" War and Fury asked.

"Actually, it's a she. And yes, she's a part of me."

"How is she? Is she as cold as you?" War asked. Strife smirked at his questions.

' _Typical War'_ "She isn't as cold as me, in fact, she is more caring, and she is a total beauty and funny"

' _ **Aw, thanks Strifey!'**_ Kettei was in awe after hearing Strife's praise.

' _Strifey? Don't tell me you picked Anko's way of treating me?!'_ Strife was now shocked. He did not, in the whole world, another Anko!

' _ **Relax, I didn't…not totally'**_ Strife rolled his eyes and scoffed, while Kettei was laughing hard.

"How can I see her? I need to see her!" War urged. ' _Kettei, how is it going to be, sexy or normal?'_

' _ **Hmm, I would want sexy to make the brat and the creepy guy blush and be in hospital for loos of blood but the girl will be watching and she will kick your ass sooo, normal way'**_ Strife then transformed into Kettei. War had a strong blush, Fury just smiled and Death was smirking

' _ **I had forgotten how Kettei looked! She's still the same beauty as ever!'**_ the demon inside Death thought.

' _You two are acquainted, Gekido?' Death asked the demon_

' _ **I do!**_ _ **You could say she's my rival, since I specialize in brute force and strength while she specializes in speed and precision'**_

' _She's a perfect fit for Strife then, just like you are for me'_ Death noted and Gekido agreed.

"Wow, you're pretty! Shame you're older than me" War commented

" **Why thank you! Aren't you a cute little brat"** Kettei said after hearing War's praise and Kettei's request to take control with Strife watching.

"I AM NOT CUTE, NOR AM I A BRAT! I CAN KICK YOUR ASS ANYTIME!" War retorted. Immediately he felt Kettei's claw on his neck.

' _So fast!_ ' Death and Fury thought

' _ **I told you she specialized in speed! She's a real handful when pissed!'**_ Gekido warned Death and he smirked.

" **Already thinking about my ass,** _ **War"**_ Kettei said seductively, making War blush like the color of his jacket. Strife and Death was trying to suppress a laugh and Fury facepalmed, wondering how War could be such a jerk.

"Enough embarrassment for the day, let's just start training!" Death saved War by gently separating Kettei from War. Kettei then changed the control to Strife.

' _You heard that Kettei?'_

' _ **I did Strife; I will train you so hard you will be put in the hospital for mental stress!'**_

' _That's so caring of you, Kettei-sensei'_ Strife replied sarcastically and Kettei giggled.

XXX

(Training grounds 5 – One month later)

Fury, War and Death were currently in the training grounds waiting for Strife. War and Fury have changed a lot. War finally had a well-toned body and was smarter. He learned how to effectively use his fire and wind release. As for Fury, she now tied her hair in a ponytail and started wearing a white top with a pink jacket. She learned how to use correctly the whip to her advantage and her strength.

Death was proud of his students; the chunnin exams were in two days and he was sure they had reached chunnin-level by now. The only one he needed to make sure was Strife but Death knew he was already prepared.

After a few minutes waiting, Strife finally appeared in front of them in a swirl of dust. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a black jacket and a golden Karat insignia in the back and black pants. "Sorry I am late. I sort of forgot about our meeting" said Strife scratching his head.

"Well never mind that, you're here now! So this is how it's going to work, we will do a taijutsu and family weapons spar in the morning one on one and then two on one, and then in the afternoon we will do a full-out spar one on one and then two on one, is it okay to you?" The trio nodded with excitement and determination. "First match: Strife vs Fury. Get ready"

"I am so going to kick your ass Strife!" Fury said confidently. Strife then smirked "Already thinking on my ass, Fury?" Strife asked, making Fury blush.

"Bastard…" Fury replied, trying to shake those naughty thoughts.

"I also think highly of you" Strife said smiling, making Fury focus once again.

"BEGIN!" Death said and both rushed to each other.

Fury jumped and tried to front flip kick Strife. Strife slid through the ground to dodge but Fury used her hair and grabbed him by his leg and threw through the training grounds.

' _Shit! I wasn't expecting that!'_ Strife thought frustrated.

' _ **Guess it's time for a change of tactics'**_ Kettei suggested and Strife agreed. This time, it was Fury's time to rush. Fury tried to whip slash Strife in his belly but he anticipated it and jumped, only to receive a smirk from Fury. Fury then separated her hair in two and whipped Strife mid-air while the other grabbed him and roughly smashed him in the ground.

"I told you I was going to kick your ass!" Fury stated confidently.

Strife then let a small laugh "And I thought I had to go easy on you…" he then activated his Dark Fists "…guess I was wrong!" he said as he gave a strong palm in the ground, which produced an earthquake and made Fury lose balance. Strife then took advantage of the opportunity and rushed to Fury.

Fury tried to put some distance and threw 4 shirukens and 2 kunais. Strife smirked "You should know that those won't work!" he said as he quickly dodges the first two shuriken and grabbed one of the kunais and rebounded the other projectiles to Fury.

Fury dodged the first shuriken by side-stepping to the left but the saw another shuriken and ducked. As she ducked he noticed the kunai was flying towards her head so she rolled to the right. As she finished the rolling, she saw a kunai flying on her right and leaned her head back to avoid it but felt one hand grabbing her by the neck and saw the other hand grabbing the flying kunai and pointing it to her neck.

"Looks like I win" Strife declared, which made Fury very confused.

"How? Did you teleport?! You know that's forbidden!"

"No, Fury, I didn't. I used your dodging to make my way towards your neck. You see, throwing is my main skill and I planned and predicted every single move you did." With that said, he made Fury, Death and War gasp in shock, with only one thought running through their heads ' _HE PLANNED AND PREDICTED EVERY SINGLE MOVE?!'_

"Wow Strife, I mean, you've improved a lot! To think that all those projectiles were carefully thrown so she wouldn't see you it's…amazing! War you're next!" Death said, looking to a now afraid War.

Strife noticing his fear, decided to help him out a little but "Didn't you want to prove that you're not some deadlast?" With that said quickly turned serious and started preparing to the fight by drawing his sword.

' _He most likely mastered his swordsmen skills so Dark Fists is out, so my best bet is to take him out with my revolvers or force him into taijutsu'_ Strife thought while looking at his sword. It was like an over-sized katana.

"BEGIN!" Death said and Strife quickly putted some distance and drew his revolver and shot a bullet into the air, exactly 89,4º to his left. War just rushed Strife full-speed ahead, wondering why he would shot a bullet into the air. Is it to check if the revolvers are working? No, it must have been planned, but for what?

' _Shit, he's fast! I need to put some space between us!'_ he thought as he started shooting War in various spots but he just deflected them all by placing his sword in front of him and waving it. Strife used this to jump over him while shooting and ran backwards to the right and kept shooting him. War just kept doing the same thing.

When War reached a certain point, the bullet which was previously shot came back and hit the spot where War was grabbing the sword. War flinched in pain and Strife finally got him and engaged him in a taijutsu combat.

As he predicted, War's taijutsu was based on strength and raw power, converting the momentum into one lethal punch or kick, so he had no problem dodging his taijutsu. This was one of the aspects Strife learned from Kettei: how to fight correctly against a heavy/aggressive ninja in taijutsu.

War cooked a punch and gave a kick to Strife. Strife stopped the kick by sending it back with his foot and War's momentum kicked in and punched Strife. Strife barely dodge it by distorting the direction of his fist and hit a pressure point on the arm, which made War back up and tried to activate his arm again, only to get stopped by Strife who gave a strong roundhouse kick on his face.

War gasped in pain but took advantage of his momentum and gave also a roundhouse kick on Strife, but missed because Strife had ducked and was preparing to give a double kick on War. War then spun, evading the first kick and did another roundhouse kick that connected Strife's second kick, which made Strife lose balance and cooked another punch.

Strife saw this coming and waited for the punch, while activating his Dark Fists. When War swung his arm, Strife grabbed his fist and gave a strong palm in the chest, which made War fly to a nearby tree and gasp in pain, coughing some blood.

"Looks like I win against you too. Hold on, let me help you" Strife said as he ran towards War and started healing him.

"Shit Strife that hurt!" War said as he was starting to feel better

"Sorry about that, I didn't want to use it but I saw no other choice. I could have killed you if I gave you a punch and not a palm"

"Well done, Strife! I loved the way you planned that bullet in the beginning!" Death commented.

"Well…I kinda had to improvise because War surprised me in the beginning with his speed but I managed to sort it out." Strife took a part of his compliment and gave it to War, who smiled back.

"Wow Death-sensei, we don't get any praise?" asked Fury, shaking her head in disappointment

"I haven't watched Strife's skill progression and I already know yours and I already told you two that if you don't make it to chunnin I will make you live hell, because you both have skills of an average chunnin!"

"So caring of you, Death-sensei! I missed you" Strife said and Death smirked back.

"Can we go eat?" War asked as his stomach growled.

"Yes, but this time, it will be Strife's turn to choose." Death said. He did not want to eat ramen again. He was getting sick of it. He wondered how Fury survived the Academy with him!

"We could eat dango" Strife suggested, earning a very strong and fast nod from Death and Fury and a sigh from War.

XXX

(At the dango restaurant)

Team 5 were entering the Dango Restaurant hungry and happy, well not every single member of Team 5, War hated dango and was sulky. After taking a look at the restaurant, they heard a voice coming out of the left corner "Strifey!" and running towards Strife and hugged him.

"STRIFEY?!" Team 5 asked Strife, shocked.

Strife just sighed at the embarrassment "Guys, _this_ is Anko. Anko, this is my team: Death-sensei, War and Fury. I don't think I actually introduced them to you"

"No, you didn't."

"You're friends with the Snake Mistress? How did you manage that?" Death asked Strife

"Do you have any problem with me? Am I that bad?!" Anko growled, which made Death and the others sweat drop.

"*sigh* She was the first person that actually accepted me. When I came to the village, she saw the looks that I received and felt bad, so she treated me for dango and is now my surrogate older-sister" Strife explained, which made Fury sigh in relief and War amazed.

"You're surrogate older sister is gorgeous!" War said

"Aw, thank you! By the way, Strifey, I think your girlfriend here is relieved that I am not dating you" Anko said making Strife and Fury blush hard.

"W-we are not dating!" "W-we are just friends!" Fury and Strife replied blushing

"Oh, but I can see you both want to!" Anko teased which made Strife draw his 4-barreled revolver and pointed it to Anko. "Okay, fine, I'll stop the teasing! No need to get so antsy! Let's eat!"

' _ **Kukuku, I like your sister!'**_ Kettei commented giggling, which made Strife sigh.

' _Please don't copy Anko, Kettei, I beg you!'_ Strife replied to Kettei, who giggled even more

"Well, that's a way to stop the embarrassment" Death commented.

They sat on the left corner, on a table specially reserved for Anko and Strife. After Strife catching up with Anko and presenting her his team, Anko then proceeded to tell them the news. "Oh, by the way, are you going to take the chunnin's exams?" Team 5 nodded. "Good, you will be seeing me in the second stage!"

"Isn't the second stage a survival test?" Strife asked.

"I'm sorry I can't tell" Anko said.

"It is a survival test; I can see it in your face!" Strife said

"Damn, I've taught you well…" Anko said sighing.

"How did you know?" War asked Strife with a curious expression

"Anko taught me how to learn information from people's expressions and body language. I must admit, it's paying off! So Anko, is it going to be the Deadly River? Forest of Death? The Catacombs?" Strife asked

Anko then tried to make her poker face and said "I'm sorry, cannot tell you. That would be cheating, and you don't want to be caught cheating, don't you?"

Strife sighed "Fine, you win. At least I know it's one of those three" he said smirking.

"Hey, why aren't you eating your dango?" Anko asked War

"I hate dango!" War retorted, making Anko gasp in horror

"But, dango it's the food of the gods!" Anko stated, making War confused

"What do you mean dango it's the food of the gods? Ramen it's the food of the gods!" War corrected Anko, making her gasp with even more horror

"What are you saying?! Are you mental sick? Dango is the freaking food of the gods! Ramen sucks, it is way too unhealthy!"

"Don't you mean dango is the food of the _dogs_?" War said, earning a tick and a growl on Anko.

"Ahm, War, for enjoyable this may be, I'm saying this, as your friend, RUN!" Strife said, making War look confused, until he say Anko picking up a kunai and getting up. He quickly jumped out to the window and started running to the rooftops

"I AM GOING TO CASTRATE YOU SO YOU DON'T PUT THOSE BROKEN IDEAS OF YOURS ON YOUR FUTURE CHILDREN!" Anko said, making Strife laugh and Death and Fury sweat-drop.

XXX

 _(Training grounds 5)_

Team 5 was currently waiting in their training grounds for War. They were debating on how long War would survive. After a few minutes, they saw and heard the screams of War, who was running from a couple of large snakes in the forest close to the training grounds.

"Strife, would you mind?" Death asked him, Strife shook in response and activated his eyes so he could teleported between the snakes and War and said "Small Dark Dust Explosion" A black explosion came out of Strife, making War fly towards their team and the snakes to the snakes to the trees. Then the snakes started taking shape of a human and transformed into Anko.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Anko growled. "DO YOU WANT TO GET CASTRATED AS WE-*gasp*" Anko didn't finish the sentence because Strife teleported behind Anko and hit a pressure point to the neck, making her body fall numb.

"Listen, Anko, you need to calm down" Strife said as he deactivated his eyes' prowess.

"But that brat sa-"

"I don't care! This has gone way too far! *sigh* Listen, Death-sensei ordered me to do a sparring match against Fury and War, let me kick War's ass for you, ok?" Strife offered and Anko agreed and calmed down, Strife then activated again her pressure point and both walked towards the meeting place.

After walking for a while, they saw the rest of Team 5. Fury healing War, War tired and scared as hell and Death smirking.

"Glad to see War's training paid off! He's the second one to successfully escape from Anko!" Strife commented smirking, making Anko growl a bit more.

"Who was the first one?" War asked between breaths.

"Me" Strife said.

"Makes sense. Anyway, since War is too tired to spar, Fury will be the first one to spar with you" Death said, making Strife and Fury grin.

"This time, you will have a harder time defeating me!" Fury commented.

"Already admitting defeat? And who said I was having a hard time last match?" Strife asked confidently

"Oh come on, don't bullshit me, you were having trouble figuring how to defeat me! And you having a harder time means better chance of me winning!" Fury retorted grinning

"I wasn't having a hard time, I was studying you. I now know how you will fight. Didn't you notice that I wasn't even scratched when you were in control of the battle?" Strife asked.

' _He's right! I didn't even see a bruise on him! Damn it! He was playing with me from the beginning. He is going to pay!'._ Fury thought growling and prepared for the battle, entering in new stance, making Strife smirk.

' _Just like I thought. She is going to enter in a more aggressive style. Everything is going accord to plan'_ Strife thought.

"Ready? Begin!"

XXX

 _ **A/N: I am sorry to interrupt now but this is really getting long and if I keep going this chapter would easily breach the 10k words. I am just trying to put a constant limit, between 5k and 6.5k. Anyway, let me if you enjoyed please!**_


	7. Preparing for the Chunnin Exam - part 2

_**A/N:**_ **I'm sorry I took this long, I was figuring out what to do after the chunnin exams to replace the search for the 5** **th** **Hokage and the Sasuke retrieval arc. It will be a surprise and totally unexpected, but I hope it will a pleasant one and that you will enjoy it. Anyways, this chapter is the conclusion of Team 5's training. Hope you enjoy!**

 **XXX**

" _This time, you will have a harder time defeating me!" Fury commented._

" _Already admitting defeat? And who said I was having a hard time last match?" Strife asked confidently_

" _Oh come on, don't bullshit me, you were having trouble figuring how to defeat me! And you having a harder time means better chance of me winning!" Fury retorted grinning_

" _I wasn't having a hard time, I was studying you. I now know how you will fight. Didn't you notice that I wasn't even scratched when you were in control of the battle?" Strife asked._

' _He's right! I didn't even see a bruise on him! Damn it! He was playing with me from the beginning. He is going to pay!' Fury thought growling and prepared for the battle, entering in new stance, making Strife smirk._

' _Just like I thought. She is going to enter in a more aggressive style. Everything is going accord to plan' Strife thought._

" _Ready? Begin!"_

Fury immediately rushed to Strife as she drew two whips into each hand and Strife his silver and dark revolvers. Strife aimed his dark 4-barreled revolver to Fury and started shooting Fury in different spots non-stop. Fury countered by spinning both whips in a circular shape, making a large pink shield, deflecting and rebounding the bullets back to Strife. Strife quickly aimed his silver powered revolver and shot the bullets that would hit him.

' _We are not going anywhere with this! I need to reach him fast and force him to attack me!'_ thought Fury as she quickly picked up the pace by channeling chakra into her legs.

' _Here we go! Finally, I can have some fun!'_ thought Strife as he placed a tag in the ground and hid it with his dust, while shooting Fury so she wouldn't notice it.

As Fury got close enough to Strife, Fury said "Multiple Whips Grab" and her hair grabbed Strife as she deflected the last few bullets. "You lose!" Fury said smirking, until he noticed the smirk on Strife.

"You're so naïve" Strife said laughing, making Fury growl and channeled her chakra to her hair, electrocuting Strife and making him explode in a cloud of dark dust, which quickly engulfed Fury, leaving only her face exposed. Fury struggled to move but the dust was too heavy.

A few seconds later, dark dust was coming out of the hidden tag in the floor and quickly took a shape of a person and then transformed into Strife. Strife channeled chakra into his right hand and the silver revolver appeared, aiming it to Fury's brains. "What… How?!" Fury asked.

"I knew that you would try to do a _little_ revenge on me for explaining you how I played with you the whole spar this morning so, when I saved War from Anko, I quickly made a dust clone, explained my clone what should he do and sealed me into this tag. The question is, do you have any tricks that might save from me pulling this trigger?" Strife asked, making Fury close her eyes.

"Are you going to kill me?" Fury asked calmly, still with her eyes closed.

"No, but if you do have any tricks, yes" Strife said blankly.

"You wouldn't" Fury retorted.

*click*

Fury knew that sound very well and did not need to open her eyes to see what Strife had done. She knew the Strife had prepared the trigger. The sound that stopped Fury's brawls with War instantly and quickly shut War up when he was being annoying. "No? Test me then" Strife said.

Fury sighed. She knew from his tone of voice that he was being dead serious.

"How is it going to be? Will you give up? Or will you risk your life?"

Fury quickly opened her eyes and said "Snake". A giant snake came from inside the dust cloud, freeing Fury and making Strife back off. The snake quickly picked up Fury and put her in its head.

"I will not give up! Not now! Not ever!" Fury said confidently, making Strife grin.

"Smart! You were stalling for time so you could activate your eyes" Strife said as he made a single hand sign and said "Multi Dark Dust Clones Jutsu" Hundreds of clones appeared from the giant black dust cloud that covered Strife

"Seriously? Clones? Pathetic!" Fury thought shaking her head in disappointment. She ordered the snake to destroy the clones, which quickly spun, making its tail a giant whip. As the snake was spinning to gain momentum, Strife ordered his clones to activate their Dark Fists and to rush to the snake.

As the snake was starting to whip the first wave of clones, the second one jumped and met the snake upper body and every single two hundred clones gave a cooked punch, which made the snake fell backwards and Fury lose balance and fall to the ground.

Fury, who was trying to get up, looked up to see a horde of Strifes shooting her. The snake quickly got up and protected Fury by whipping the rest of the clones, making a huge dark dust cloud, leaving only Strife on the other side.

"Dark Dust Manipulation!" Strife said as he raised his arms. As Strife was starting to wave hands, the dust cloud obeyed. _**(Think how Gaara controls the sand).**_ He ordered the cloud to lift him up till he was on the same level as Fury

 _(With Anko, War and Death)_

"Holy shit! He's one scary dude!" War commented as he saw Strife controlling in awe.

"Indeed! I must admit, I'm proud of Fury to be able to keep up with him!" Death said smirking

"Well that's because he is going easy on her. Those two have some special relationship, maybe that's why" Anko replied, earning a face of curiosity Death.

"What do you mean Strife is going easy on her?" War asked shocked, making Anko smirk.

"A couple weeks ago, I visited Strife and one thing led to the other and in the end he agreed that I could supervision his training and I helped him in many ways. Trust me when I say this, he could have ended the spar a long time ago!" Anko explained grinning.

War was in complete shock. He couldn't believe Strife was going easy on her! And Anko had requested Strife to go hard on him! He was starting to sweat and sat down as he was starting to feel dizzy just by thinking about it.

(with Strife and Fury)

"New jutsu, ah?" Fury asked smirking as she looked at the giant black dust cloud below him.

"Kettei's idea. She told me that I could do so much more with my dark dust. Turns out she was right! It is still incomplete but I'll get there" Strife explained smiling.

"Well, shall we go?" Fury asked confidently. Strife nodded smirking and Fury made the first move, making the snake rush forward. Strife just raised both hands, making a huge dust wave.

' _What is he thinking? It is just dust! I can pass right through!'_ Fury thought and continued moving. As the snake made contact the wave, instead of the snake passing through easily, the snake crashed its head hard in the wave and was being dragged by the black wave.

Eventually, the wave completely engulfed the snake and stopped moving. Strife lowered the cloud and gestured the wave to give a breathing space to Fury. "Forgot that I can make the dust rougher?"

"Shut up…just get me out of here…" Fury said frustrated. Strife nodded and made few hand signs "Dark Dust Manipulation: Release" the dust started fazing away from Fury and was being sucked into Strife. After a few minutes of sucking all of the dust, he helped her getting up and placed her arm around his neck for better mobility and started moving towards the rest of Team 5.

"You know, I'm actually surprised by your performance today and I'm proud of you for starting to carry your own weight in this team so please, stop beating over yourself for being able to win against me" Strife said smiling making Fury look up to Strife widening her pink eyes. Part of her was angry and embarrassed for being a push-over a couple months ago and the other part of her was in bliss for her crush complimenting her.

"Nice try Fury" "You didn't win but you have made that far!" "Are you okay?" Death, Anko and War said as they got closer to the pair.

"Thanks guys… and yes, War, I'm fine" Fury replied, making War sigh in relief.

"Thank god he was going easy on you! I'd be mad if he didn't!" War commented, making Strife, Anko and Death sweat-drop and Fury twitch her right eye.

"Could you repeat that again War, _please"_ Fury said, still twitching her eyes.

"That Strife went easy on yo- ah shit…" War obeyed and realized his mistake, making Strife sigh heavily. _'He is such a moron'_ Strife thought to himself

"Strife… what War said… is that true?" Fury asked fake smiling and twitching her right eye, making Strife look back to her and sweat-drop.

' _Come on, Strife, I know she's scary when she's mad but you faced worse! Get it together!'_ thought and let out a slow but heavy breath. "Yes, Fury, War's right" Strife with the blankest expression known to this world.

Fury, hearing his response, punched his shoulder "AND WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"

' _Thank God that I won her cute bear in the festival!'_ Strife thought to himself, scratching his left ear. "Listen, Fury, if I did went hard on you, you would be in hospital for at least a month and I don't want any trouble with War or your parents. If you don't believe me, ask my big sister, she helped me training" Fury looked at a smirking Anko and sighed.

"Fine… Thanks, I guess… But I'm still mad because you lied to me!"

"What do you mean I lied to you? I just didn't tell you" Strife replied, making Fury growl. Meanwhile, Anko was laughing hard in the background.

"Aw, you guys are so cute together!" Anko commented laughing, until she heard and felt a bullet pass graze of her left earlobe.

"Well, what do you know, I missed" Strife said sarcastically as he stared to Anko's eyes with his eyes activated "I thought I told you already to stop teasing me. Do you want another spar, _Big Sis Anko_?" Strife said as he kept staring into Anko's eyes, making her growl and shook her head in response.

' _Wow, she's afraid of Strife! Their spar must have been roughly intense!'_ Death thought. "Anyway, War, your rest is over. You're turn to spar"

"Do I really need to? I mean, we already saw what Strife can do!" War excused himself.

"YES, you do! Your sensei still doesn't know how Strife fights when he is not holding back!" Anko said, making War gulp.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible, Anko, the chunnins are in two days and we need be ready, I don't want a teammate in hospital for a month and lose the exams" Strife helped War, making him sigh in relief.

"Damn, I hate when you're right. Fine, just go hard enough to make him know that NO ONE messes with my dango and still be able to participate in the chunnins!" Anko suggested.

"You got yourself a deal, big sis" Strife said smirking.

"Hey, Strife, come on, let's talk this through okay? I already apologized!"

"Sorry, gotta respect the elders' wishes"

"Oh NOW you respect them. Damn you… Fine, I won't hold back" War replied, making Strife laugh hard.

"It's about time you told me a good joke" Strife commented grinning.

"Go to hell!"

"Ready? Begin!" Death started the match.

Both Strife and War activated their eyes' prowess, Strife drew his guns and started shooting in various places while War drew his thick sword and said "Wind Flow!" making the sword move faster and deflect every bullet that Strife had thrown him.

"Smart! I must admit, you're getting smarter" Strife commented making War grin. Strife then started teleporting in different locations and shooting War as quickly as he could.

War struggled to deflect every bullet, eventually letting pass a couple bullets that hit him in the chest or back. Strife didn't seem to stop and he needed to do something. "Fire Wav-" He wanted to unleash a wave of flames that would melt the bullets and push Strife away, but Strife was faster and quickly teleported in front of War and used the left hand to shut him up and the right leg to stop a swinging sword as he activated the Dark Fists in his right hand and gave a strong palm on War's chest, making him fly a couple meters through the ground.

"Though you're not smart enough to defeat me" Strife finished his sentence.

War, on the other side, coughed some blood and cursed him. He got up and looked back at Strife, more precisely, to his yellow eyes. As he continued to stare him to death, his eyes were blazing red and red chakra was coming out of him.

"So that's how it's going to be?" Strife said smirking.

"That's right, I won't hold back at some over-confident jerk who stares people to death in order to cause fear. You know what I think you? A bastard who can't even hurt a freaking fly because he is a very good actor who is just pretending to be a bad guy!" War retorted, with excitement and adrenaline running through his blood. He had enough of Strife's insults and he was ready to put some sense into his head.

(With Anko, Death and Fury)

"Oh he just had to say it out loud… he's a dead man…" Anko commented sighing.

"What do you mean?" Fury asked.

"It was when I was doing a spar with Strife, a couple days ago. He was losing pretty badly and I wanted to have a good match, not a boring one, so I teased his infamous reputation. In the end, instead of being Strife with broken bones, it was me. It still hurts me and he is still angry at me" Anko explained.

"That explains why he almost killed you twice this day for teasing him" Death said, making Anko nod.

(With War and Strife)

Strife had closed his eyes and opened again. War could see that he had opened the eyes' second phase but something seemed off. He looked at him more attentively and noticed Strife wasn't showing any emotions. Nothing at all. He had the blankest expression he has ever seen in his entire life. It creeped the hell out of him. The combination of his blank expression with the intense gaze of his eyes. It felt like that time on top of the Hokage monument, when his eyes changed. It felt like he was piercing through his soul.

"Do you really want to know why am I known for Cold-Hearted Strife Karat?" Strife said blankly and slowly, still staring at him.

"Show it to me! Prove me wrong!" War said smirking as he clenched his sword tightly.

Strife closed his eyes and opened them once more. When he opened them, a large explosion of dust came out of him, engulfing his entire body. Though it wasn't his normal Dark Dust, it was white, like silver. As the white dust covered his body, the ground itself started shaking, making War lose a bit of balance, and only stopped when the silver dust completely covered him. He was now a shadow, with only his blazing yellow eyes exposed.

 _(With Anko, Death and Fury)_

"Ahm, Death, would you mind call some medic ninjas? If you want your team to participate the exams, you should do that" Anko suggested concerned.

"I thought you wanted Strife to go hard on War" Death said smirking

"I wanted to hurt him, not kill him" Anko answered him, making the other two spectators widen their eyes.

"Is he that serious?" Fury asked. Anko only nodded as she looked at the red and white auras.

"Shit…" Death cursed and prepared himself by drawing his scythes.

(With War and Strife)

After a couple minutes of staring each other to death, Strife finally made the first move by rushing at amazing speed towards War. War could still see him but barely, and as Strife was quickly shorting their distance, War struck his sword to the ground and said "Fire Pillars!"

Giant fire columns came down from the ground, trying to slow down, only to get outsped by Strife. Strife just changed direction every time a fire pillar came down, making it hard to predict where he would go.

 _(With Anko, Death and Fury)_

"Wow, I never saw anyone effectively dodging the Zartag's Fire Pillar Jutsu!" Death said in awe.

"Well, that's because Strife's reaction time is 25 ms or 0.025 seconds" Anko said as a matter-of-fact, making the duo open their mouths. "Why are so shocked? You know Strife's forte is speed, he needs to have an astonishing reaction time to be successful!" Anko explained, making them less shocked.

 _(With War and Strife)_

Strife was quickly getting closer to War and War was getting nervous. No one has ever dodged that technique so easily. As Strife got close enough, War then took out the sword from the ground and lifted it up and pointed it to Strife, who was two meters away from War, and said "Fire Explosion".

A big fire explosion came from the tip of the sword and quickly turns to ash everything in the way. As the smoke cleared, War noticed Strife in the ground, completely burned out and with bits of white dust and smoke coming out of him.

"Humph, looks like it was all talk. That idi-*gasp*" War didn't finish the sentence because Strife had captured him by his neck with his left hand and lifted him up.

"H...Ho…How?" War asked, struggling to talk.

"I created a dust clone the moment you launched your explosion so you wouldn't see me doing it and quickly teleported to your back"

"B…But…H-How d…did you m…manage it in…a space…of…"

"…space of precisely a second and twenty-two hundred milliseconds?" Strife finished the sentence for him "Simple. It takes to me a second to make a dust clone and since my reaction time is 0.025 seconds, I still had approximately 0.195 seconds left" Strife said as a matter-of-fact.

Strife then punched War in the back with his free hand, making War fly through the training grounds with a big bruise in his back. Strife then teleported a few meters ahead of War and extended his arm, which was engulfed by his silver chakra, which made it rough. Eventually, War's head hit Strife's arm hard, making a large bruise in his face. War ragdolled a couple meters and stopped when he hit a tree.

"I told you that you weren't smart enough to defeat me. Nor powerful enough" Strife said as he stared War in the same spot. He then drew his silver powered revolver and pointed to War's head.

 _(With Anko, Death and Fury)_

"Shit, he is going to kill him! Fury, wait!" Anko urged and followed Fury

"Not like this!" Death said as he proceeded to make some hand signs.

 _(With Strife and War)_

Strife kept pointing his revolver to War without even flinching. He truly was ice-cold. Strife then prepared the trigger, making the infamous sound echo through the training grounds.

"STRIFE, NO!" Fury shouted as she ran full-speed ahead. But it was too late. Strife had already pulled the trigger and the bullet was currently halfway to War's head.

However, in a blink of an eye, Death appeared in a gulf of purple flames and held both scythes crossed, with one of his scythes deflecting the bullet, well, not deflecting, the bullet went right through the first scythe's blade and stopped in the second scythe's blade. Death's scythes now had a hole and a light crack.

Meanwhile, Strife was currently being hugged by Fury, still pointing the revolver at War.

"Strife, please, don't let your old personality come back! I don't want your cold and empty version! I want the caring and happy one!" Fury said crying in Strife's chest. She looked up and met Strife's blank face, still staring at War, and pushed his arm down with her right hand "Remember back in the festival? The way you acted? Please be like that!" Fury said, still crying.

As Fury cried in Strife's chest, the silver dust slowly fazed away from him and his eyes stopped glowing. When the dust left, he met Fury's pink eyes and hugged her back tightly as he rubbed her smooth pink hair softly with his right hand. "I'm sorry. I need to go" he said blankly as he turned around with his back facing the group.

"Wait, Strife, I need to talk to you" Death said

"I can't right now. Visit me tonight if you want to" Strife said as he teleported away in a puff of his normal dark dust.

"Where is he going?" War asked. He was still leaning against the tree in pain. Strife's hit really did leave a mark on him.

"He is going to stabilize himself" Anko answered growling "If it weren't for your trash talk, neither you nor Strifey wouldn't be in this position!"

"How is he going to stabilize himself?" Death asked curiously.

"Tell me what did he tell you on the first meeting?" Anko asked, making them look confused.

"He said that he liked to relax, listen to nature and music, do some personal things that I don't feel comfortable speaking of, and practice my family jutsus and that he hated lots of things such as people who judge others by mere rumors or by its look and people who underestimate each other. He also said that he didn't have plans for the future. Why?" Fury replied, making Anko sigh.

"That's what I thought… answering your question, there is many ways he stabilizes himself down but the most effective one is a bit embarrassing and he refers to it as _'personal things that he doesn't feel comfortable speaking of."_

"What does he do?" Fury and War asked, fueled by curiosity.

"Sorry, I can't tell you. He would kill me and go on a rampage over the village at best. Not going to risk it" Anko said smirking, making Fury and War gulp and shocked by how she said the consequences _on the best case scenario_!

Death was laughing in the inside and decided to interrupt "Anyway, I'm still glad no one died, but War needs to be alone with extreme medical attention if you want to be part of the chunnin's exam so you have tomorrow free. Make sure you're with Strife, Fury, to make sure he is okay" Fury nodded and the trio quickly left to their homes.

 **XXX**

 _(In the Karat estate; 22:00)_

Strife had just finished eating his meal and was currently meditating in the sofa and was going to talk to Kettei.

When he entered the mindscape, he noticed some trees were destroyed and had no life whatsoever.

"What the hell happened here?" Strife asked as he raised his right eyebrow at the change of his mindscape.

" **This is the result of your little** _ **overreaction**_ **. When you got angry at War, the trees were slowly dying and when you tried to execute him, that's when the entire forest was destroyed! THANKFULLY, Fury saved this forest once again! You're so lucky to have her! Many like you usually don't have the same luck!"** Kettei answered furiously concerned.

"Okay, okay, calm down. *sigh* I'll make sure to thank Fury when I see her if that makes you feel any better. Wait, many like me? What do you mean?"

" **You don't think you're the only one who has a demon inside of you, do you?"** Strife scratched the back of his head and said yes shyly. **"Kukuku, you're so silly. For example, your sensei has the Demon Wolf Gekido, who symbolizes rage. Fun fact, Gekido and I are rivals!"**

" **We Demons are reborn inside the humans' souls during their childhood, but only if the human's childhood is sad or dark, and Demons symbolize a strong characteristic of the user. You could have been paired with my brother Boido, who is a Demon Jaguar and symbolizes the void or the feeling of emptiness. Another fun fact, you do have some of his traits"**

"Some of your brother's traits? Please clarify me. By the way, you're a Demon Cat right?"

" **Kukuku, yes Strifey, I am a Demon Cat. My brother is a very cold, callous, and dispassionate demon, and he is rather aloof, brooding and indifferent. When I said you have some of his traits, I meant that your personality is a lot similar to his than mine"**

"Then, how come he is not my demon and you are? Aren't you supposed to be a demon-like representation of my personality?"

" **You have a point, but the reason you got paired with me and not Boito, it's because the feeling of determination was stronger than the feeling of emptiness"** Strife now looked confused. **"You didn't get it? Okay, let me explain in other words. After witnessing your family's demise in the most rough and uncomfortable way, feelings like despair, loneliness and emptiness immediately popped up in your head, but you felt determined to get over it and finally knowing the dangers of this world, you felt determined to train everyday so you could defend yourself. And now, you feel determined to protect those precious to you. That's why I got paired with you. Even though you kept showing more the feeling of emptiness than determination, deep inside you still felt determined to not die a horrible death."** Kettei explained with the most genuine smile he has ever seen. Almost like his mother used to when he got hurt practicing with his revolvers. He thought for a second that it was his mother who was talking to him and not Kettei. Maybe it is just a coincidence.

"Well, I don't want to admit but I am sort of thankful for being paired with you and not your brother." Strife said, making Kettei grin. "But is it possible to be paired with two demons?"

" **Why do you ask that?"**

"Because earlier, when I was fighting War, I felt another source of power inside of me that felt so familiar and normal to me, like I've used it before but I don't remember why!"

" **Maybe that explains why you have some of his traits…"** Kettei thought to herself.

"Excuse me? Would you mind say it out loud?"

" **The reason why you have some bits of his personality… Boido is alive inside your body! Somewhere…"**

"But, I thought it was only possible to be paired with only one demon!"

" **Then how do you explain the source of power you felt in your battle?!"** Strife grunted, acknowledging her point. **"Boido is alive, locked and hidden deep inside of you, somewhere…"**

"If he truly is locked up inside of me, how did I use his power?"

" **You might have let some of his chakra slip by and infect you. It is the only explanation…"** After that, they heard a knocking sound. **"Did you hear that?"**

"It must have been Death-sensei. See you later" Strife said as he proceeded to get out of his mindscape.

" **Alright, go on then. I'll just search for Boito's location while you're out. Say hello for me to Gekido please!"** Kettei requested and Strife nodded and got back to the real world. As he got control of his senses back again, he then went to the door and opened it

"Good evening, Death-sensei. Please come in" Strife greeted him and Death nodded.

"Hello to you too, Strife." Death said as he sat down in the chair

"Oh, Kettei says hello to Gekido by the way" Strife said as he also sat down on the other chair.

"She told you, ah? Well, I guess it was only a matter of time." _'You wanna reply or what?'_ Death asked to a smirking Gekido.

' _ **Always so cheerful and optimistic... Humph, I almost missed her attitude'**_

"He says he almost missed her attitude"

Kettei was now grinning _**'Always so grumpy and pessimistic… Good to meet him again'**_

"She says it's good to meet him again. Anyway, did you come here to talk about Anko?" Strife asked smirking

"Wha-No! What makes you think that?"

"Well, it's clear that both of you have a fetish for torturing people and since you're the same age and both of you keep looking at each other discreetly, I just assumed" Death now paled. He was so certain that no one saw him looking at Anko.

"*clears throat* It's not because of Anko, it is because of Aizen Sasoto"

Strife now was looking confused "What about him?"

"Ever since that mission in the Badlands, I have been investigating with Lord Third the reason of why there are people trying to get your hands off you" Death explained, Strife just let a small oh in response "We got nothing from the Mortal Duo of the Stone but we got something from Aizen" Seeing that Strife was looking more interested, he continued.

"Aizen is part of a secret organization called ' _Messatsu'_. We still don't know why their leader is or what their goals are. We only know that the Messatsu is an organization whose members are A and S class missing ninjas from around the world"

"How come you don't know who their leader is? Aizen must have gotten the orders through him"

"Oh he did…just not what the way you're expecting. He got the orders through a piece of paper sent by a black messenger hawk. His first initial orders were to plant explosives on the Karat estate in the Leaf so he could eliminate the Karats that lived here, most importantly: to eliminate the clan head and its wife. Thus he succeeded in eliminating half of the Karat clan, those who lived in the village, but failed in eliminating the clan head and its wife, so he got severely punished and as his last mission to finish his job"

"Wait, half of my clan lived here? What about the other half?"

"You're other half were living in their own homeland, in the Land of Volcanos, more precisely, in the Hidden Volcano Village" Death said smirking, who was already expecting some kind of reaction from him

"I-I didn't know my clan had their own village! I must research about it, when I have time!" Strife said, almost crying out of happiness and excitement.

"Focus, Strife, I am not done yet" Death calmed him down.

"Yeah, yeah, I am sorry…*clears throat*…but, if he wanted to kill me, why would the others like the Mortal Duo tried to capture me?"

"We haven't discovered yet" Death said, leaving out a heavy sigh. "We did find something interesting in his mind; it is a seal that prevents other people from discovering precious information. Inside of it might hold the answers we are looking for, such as their goals"

"Can Aizen tell us without the seal destroying his mind or something of that sort?"

"The Seals Department analyzed it and yes, he could tell us, but he refuses to break down, no matter how painful his torture is" Death said, making Strife frown. "Anyway, that's all I came here to tell you. It would be better if you let this information sink in before sleeping. Just a tip. May I go?"

"Do you know if the library holds any information about the Land of Volcanos? And how do we know if someone is part of the Messatsu?"

"Ah, yes, I almost forgot. We've noticed that the messenger hawk from Aizen's memories, Aizen and the Mortal Duo of the Stone have the same tattoo in their bodies. The tattoo is a skull with a cross above it. And as if the library holds any information about the Land of Volcanos, most likely. If the library doesn't hold it, ask the Hokage for it. He would help you" Death replied smiling.

"Alright, thanks! Good night, Death-sensei!" Strife waved grinning. Death waved as well and left.

' _Does he get more emotional in the night or something? It certainly feels that way! Well, at least he's different. That version of him earlier was scary!'_ thought Death as he walked towards the Zartag estate.

' _Man, what a night! Note to self: search for the Land of Volcanos after the chunnin exams!'_ Strife thought as he went to the Karat's rooftops and laid down, watching the stars and the moon.


	8. Awkward Meetings

_**A/N: Sorry for taking so long, I have been playing CS:GO for the past few days and school explanations center which I'm obliged to go, so I only had time to write about 750-1000 words per day. I'm also sorry for not finishing the first part of the exam, but I already hit the 5.5k words mark and I'm trying to build up a constant line. Anyway, FINALLY! The fun begins! I hope you enjoy from this chapter a lot more than the previous. It's about this part where what I've planned for a long time starts! R &R please!**_

 **XXX**

 _(The following day)_

Strife had slept the entire morning, since he stayed up late in his estate's rooftops, contemplating the skies and thinking about what he had learned last evening. He woke up sleepy and opened the curtains of his bedroom and looked at the beautiful sight of an amazing sun without clouds gazing upon the village. He saw the playground, which was right about the corner, and saw how cheerful and energetic the kids were. Strife smiled upon the sight, until his stomach growled furiously.

' _No wonders I'm hungry, I slept the entire morning'_ he thought as he quickly dressed up and went to the kitchen to start cooking. He saw a couple beef steaks and decided to cook it while making some rice.

As he was eating his lunch, someone had knocked the door. ' _*sigh* seriously? I can't even enjoy a meal? I hope it's not the business man trying overpaying me again for the gas and light just because I have an estate. My estate only has three houses and I only use one!'_

He quickly finished his meal and went to see who was knocking. He opened it and saw Fury waiting, leaning against the electricity post. ' _Of course… I should have known…"_ he thought sighing.

"FINALLY! I was starting to change to sensorial mode to check if you were really there!" Fury said as she placed her hands on her hips.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Strife asked as he a raised his right eyebrow.

"Oh wow, aren't you cheerful!" Fury retorted, making him sigh and roll his eyes "I came here to check if you were okay and ask if you wanted to have lunch with me" Fury said smiling.

Strife sighed "Typical… Yeah I'm better now and sorry, I just finished eating lunch. I am afraid your attempt to go on a date with me failed" Strife said with a discreet smirk.

Fury stopped smiling and blushed hard "I am not asking you on a date! Death-sensei told me to spend the day with you!"

Strife now looked confused. Death-sensei told her to spend the day with him? It was a little hard to believe... "Really? Why? Or is that an excuse?"

"IT'S NOT AN EXCUSE!" Fury shouted, already tired of Strife's teasing. Strife now looked more attentively and got closer to Fury to touch her heart. This action made Fury jump back with a small blush, thinking at first that he was going to touch her breast.

"Say that again" Strife requested making Fury more confused.

"What? That I said that was not an excuse?" Fury asked, because she didn't know what was going on and was hesitant.

"Well what do you know, Death-sensei really told you to spend the day with me... Sorry for doubting you" Strife said as he took off his hand from her heart.

"You should be sorry! I don't like being treated like just another fangirl!" Strife frowned and nodded "But enough embarrassment, shall we go?" Fury asked smiling.

' _You sure forgive me fast… I wonder why…'_ Strife nodded as well with a small smile

XXX

(BBQ Restaurant)

Fury had suggested going to a Barbeque Restaurant and Strife, to compensate that misunderstanding earlier, decided to pay her the meal. Fury was currently eating her second round of barbeque and Strife was simply drinking a soda and looking at Fury eating. She must love barbeque a lot to eat so much so fast. Almost like War eating ramen.

"Why are you staring at me?" Fury asked with a small blush frowning.

"For a pretty heiress like you, you don't eat your meal like one" Strife commented smirking.

Fury looked even more embarrassed "S-so what? I love barbeque! Is it that bad?"

"I never said it was bad" Strife said smirking. Fury widened her eyes and smiled.

"So tell me Strife, why you despise dates so much?" Fury asked curiously.

Strife sighed heavily at that question and started playing with his cup of water and looking at it. "I don't know… maybe it's just me but, I find hard to trust people, especially girls… they can be so annoying some times and most of them only care about themselves…"

Fury stopped eating for a moment "Wow, I didn't know you despised my _kind_ so much!"

"You're not a girl" Strife said blankly, still staring and playing with his cup.

"What, so I'm boy?" Fury asked sarcastically, confused from his answer

"Nope, you're a kunoichi" Strife said looking up to her, ignoring her sarcasm

"How is that any different from girls?" Fury asked confused.

"Girls are often obsessive at something, not trustworthy and as I said, they only care about themselves, and are too coward and useless. You on the other hand, are a kunoichi. You're caring, comprehensive, loyal, strong, confident and selfless. That's why you're different" Strife said, looking at her pink eyes smiling.

Fury's heart was beating hard and fast. She would never guess that Strife thought that much of her. She was expecting something like ' _Oh you're nice'_ … not that! She blushed and curled her hair in her ear "Wow, I mean, thanks, I guess…"

Strife smiled at her blush and drank the last bit of water and stared at the sun. Fury admired how the sun reflected in his pale face. "Don't you want to know what I think of you?" Strife looked back at her and raised his right eyebrow "Just to keep the conversation alive" Fury excused, laughing shyly as she scratched the back of head.

Strife frowned and said "I don't know if I want to hear it…" making Fury look confused. "You'll probably just say that I am some cold-hearted demon that kills people mercilessly…"

Fury smiled and grabbed his hands, making his eyes meet hers "That's not true at all. The way you said that sentence only proves that you're not _some cold-hearted demon_ " Strife looked confused by her explanation and asked for a better one "You frowned when you said that. You don't want to be seen as one and it hurts you when people see you that way" Strife was eye-widened after her reply. He would never guess that someone doesn't think he was a demon.

Strife frowned "But…maybe I am…" Fury asked what did he mean "Maybe I am a demon…The way I am in battle…when I almost executed War without flinching, when I almost killed Aizen, when I killed that guy from the Mortal Duo…The way I act…when someone teases me, when someone underestimates me, when someone is with me…"

"You know…" Fury interrupted. She couldn't hear any more of his reasoning "…You may act like one but I know that deep inside, you still have a caring and sweet side"

Strife smiled "Maybe you're right…" A couple seconds later, they heard giggles coming out of the other corner of the restaurant, more specifically Ino.

"Well, what do you know; you finally got a date with Strife, Fury. Congrats!" Ino said laughing, making Strife frown. Strife suddenly looked up to Ino, with his eyes' prowess activated. He then draws his dark 4-barreled revolver to try to _put some sense in her,_ only to get blocked halfway by Fury. He looked to the revolver to see what was blocking it and saw both Fury's hands grabbing him tightly. He looked up to her and saw a half-scared and half-angry expression. He deactivated his eyes, returning to normal and sighed.

"Sorry… it's just that…it's like a trigger…when someone teases me, it's like everything goes blank and I react like this…"

"I understand…" Strife then stopped frowning and looked at her surprised. She was probably the only person he knew that would forgive him so easily and understand his reasons "…you just have to control your emotions" she said smiling.

He sighed "Easier said than done. You know what I've been through pretty well and it would be a miracle if I could"

"Well, you just have to try" She said smiling again, making him surprised again and then smiled. "By the way, I've meaning to ask you…" she continued, taking out her hands of his, and earning an interesting look of Strife "…back in your estate, you checked if I was lying or not by putting your hand in my chest. How?"

"It's quite simple actually. I change to sensorial mode and I start building my dark dust around where your heart is, and I can determine if someone is lying through his heartbeat. When the heart beats, my dust is highly sensible and it jumps and when someone is lying, the heart beats faster and my dust jumps quickly. That's how I check if someone is lying"

"That makes sense… But what if a person is a very good liar? What then?"

Strife smirked "Then I'll use my big sis Anko's methods" That made Fury shiver.

She cleared the throat "Anyway, I'm doing eating, shall we go for a walk?" Fury asked and Strife nodded, both paying at the counter and leave.

 **XXX**

 _(In the middle of the village)_

Strife and Fury had been walking for a couple hours. In their little journey, they first checked if War was okay and if he would be able to participate in the exams. They'd been told that War could but he won't be at his 100%. After that, they ran away from fangirls, or more precisely, Strife ran away while Fury beat them up.

After things calmed down, Strife went to do some shopping with Fury. If it weren't for Fury, Strife would have been overpayed the triple. The shop assistant was fuming and was even shocked when Strife had thanked her for her services with a smile, because usually, Strife just gave her a deadly glare and reported her to the Hokage for mistreating costumers.

They were currently heading towards the Karat estate, to drop off, when suddenly they heard someone call for Strife behind them "Yo, Karat!" Strife turned around to see a young trio with a sand forehead protector. On the left was rather tall teenager who wore a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front and had what it looked like a human covered in yellow toilet-paper on his back. He also wore a black hood which covered his head completely, and had cat-like. He had small back eyes and had purple paint on his head in a triangular fashion, and had a very cocky smirk in his face.

In the middle was also rather tall and pretty girl with yellow straight hair, which ended at the base of her neck, and was wearing a short-sleeved, black kimono that reached down to her legs, with slits along the side and a very revealing neckline. She also retains a red sash tied around her waist and fingerless black gloves. She also had two gray semi-automatic pistols and a big dark sniper rifle and she seemed the most interesting one of the three for Strife, for some reason. She had blue-gray eyes and had a very unenthusiastic, sad and lonely expression.

The guy on the right was the smallest of them all, but still rather tall as well. He wore a white hakama and a white robe which opened in a narrow 'V' down to his waist, closed to below the hips, and then it opened again to them hem, which then falls about to mid-calf. His robe had long bell sleeves. Also, the lining of the robe and edges were black. The most notorious about him is that he had a necklace with a simple black thin hilt of a sword hanging in the necklace, and his expression. He had his eyes narrowed and had a very mocking smile.

Strife just rose his eyebrow "What?" he said blankly.

"Don't you recognize us?" The painted boy asked.

"No, should I?" Strife answered blankly, making him very angry.

"That's it brat! I'm going to teach you a lesson so you will recognize us next ti-"

"It would be better if we don't cause trouble here. I'm positive you understand why" The smallest one intervened "I'm sorry we caused Lord Karat trouble. We are not here to challenge Lord Karat but to participate the upcoming exams. We are from the Hidden Village of the Sand and we are the Kazekage children. I'm Gin of the Sand; my cocky unstable brother is Kankuro..." Kankuro growled at Gin's statement "…and my quiet sister is Lilly" Lilly looked up to meet Strife's eyes and widened them in surprise when his eyes met hers confidently.

' _Why is she surprised?'_ he thought "Good to meet you three. My name is Strife Karat and this is my teammate Fury Minz. And please don't treat me as Lord Karat"

"But why, Lord Karat? It is so fitting!" Gin said with his stupid grin growing larger.

Strife smirked at his response _'He's testing me. I can already tell he is the deceptive, astute and analyst type of people. I already like him'_ "Then please let me treat you as equal, Lord of the Sand. After all, you're from royalty as well!" Gin's grin dropped. Strife was the first one to not be either intimidated by his personality or annoyed/irritated by his comments. Gin's mocking grin came back after noticing that Strife was similar to him.

"Are you going to the exams as well, Karat?" Lilly asked with her usual expression. The two boys looked extremely shocked by her entry, which made both Fury and Strife confused.

"Yes I am… why do you ask?"

"Are you powerful?" Strife's confusion got bigger

"Depends on how you define powerful" Strife replied with a small smirk

"Alright, I'll rephrase it. For a genin, are you strong?" Strife's smirk got a bigger.

"Lilly, I don't like to brag about it because personal reasons, but I am considered the strongest genin of the Leaf at the moment, and my sensei affirms that my skill level is greater than a low chunnin"

Fury narrowed him at his response _'Low chunnin? He's skill level is without a doubt jonin and he says he's low ch- oh I get it, since he doesn't trust them fully he's trying to lower their expectancies'_

"Good, I look forward for our match" Lilly said with a small smile. _'Did she just smile?'_ the two sand boys thought as they looked to each other. Gin even dropped his grin and opened his eyes, which were bright-sky blue.

"Likewise" Strife as he nodded.

"Anyway, would you like us to give you a tour around the village?" Fury made her entry with a big smile.

"I don't see why we wouldn't like" Gin replied. They started walking around, with Fury leading the way, Gin and Strife behind her and Kankuro and Lilly behind them peacefully, until Gin said "You have quite a pretty girlfriend, Karat" Strife's eyes changed to feared black and yellow slit and spiky semi-circle. "You're lucky because there aren't many girls from royalty that are like her" Fury blushed and facepalmed, knowing perfectly what was about to happen.

Strife was pointing his dark revolver at Gin's head. "My my, it seems I have found your weak spot" Gin said, still with the same mocking expression

"I don't care if I sympathize with you a lot, but one thing you should know is that I don't like being teased, especially with my social status" Strife warned with his blank expression. Meanwhile, Kankuro was prepared to hit Strife in the head with his stuffed weapon and Lilly was looking at him curiously.

"I and my team are here for the exams, as well as yours. Do you have the balls to kill me, knowing the consequences?"

*Click* "Do not test me" Gin's grin dropped and Lilly was pointing his sniper rifle to Strife's head.

"Drop your gun, or I'll shoot" Lilly said calmly.

"Do it, shoot it" Strife said blankly as looked sharply into Lilly's blue gray eyes. Lilly did just that and blew Strife's head into pieces, though what came out of Strife's head wasn't blood but dark dust. In the next instance, Strife's body fell and turned to dark dust as well, making the sand trio very intrigued.

The dark dust regrouped and separated in half and each engulfed Gin and Lilly's bodies. Both tried to get free but their efforts were meaningless. Both felt the dust focusing in a specific area in their backs and then fell in their knees lifeless. The dust regrouped once more and transformed into Strife.

Strife then drew his revolvers and pointed each to Gin's and Lilly's head. Kankuro was terrified in the back and couldn't do much to help his brothers.

*Click*

"Strife" Fury called him in the back, with her hands on her hips. "What did we talk about earlier in the restaurant?" Strife's eyes changed back to normal and his revolvers dematerialized. Strife then activated their pressure points motionless and walked towards Fury.

"Sorry. I'm going now" He whispered as he grabbed his bag full of purchased items.

"Should I tell them about you?" Fury asked lowly. Strife looked back at the trio, deep in thought, and looked at Lilly curiously.

"Yeah, they seem fine. Try to learn their history, especially Lilly's. There's something peculiar about her"

"Sure… you're not getting a crush one her, aren't you?" Fury said with a smirk

Strife rolled his eyes and started walking towards his estate "Don't be ridiculous. She may be my type but I'm not into relationships at the moment. Besides I barely know her" He said as he teleported away in a puff of dust.

' _Thank god for that!'_ She thought sighing, knowing that her crush wasn't interested in her. She walked up towards the still shocked sand trio and said "Don't mind Strife, he will forgive you. He finds you three acceptable, in his standards; just…don't tease him about _that_ "

"We understand but, would it be okay to explain us why or what happened to him?" Gin asked concerned.

"Well, it's a long story and one that isn't very amusing so it'd be better to go to some place cheerful" Fury suggested and the trio nodded slowly.

 **XXX**

(At the playground)

"Alright ahm…where do I start… I guess from his beginning" Fury said as she composed herself to the three impatient sand trios "I'm sorry it's just that it is something that I don't like to talk about but, you three should know"

"Take your time, we understand. Just start whenever you feel ready" Gin replied. Fury breathed heavily and after sitting in one of the swings for quite a while, she spoke.

"Well…For starters, his family ran away to exile because some madman decided to explode the Karat estate, thus killing almost every Karat family. Only the head clan's family, his family, survived"

"Jeez, it's already that fucked up? I feel terribly sorry for him!" Kankuro interrupted, making Fury frown.

"And I haven't reached to the most fucked up one yet…" Fury said lowly, making them widen their eyes in terror. "His family exiled to a very peaceful place, hidden from everyone, in the borderlands. He lived there peacefully for 6 years, until…" Fury cleared a tear and continued her story "Sorry…*heavy breath* until his parents went crazy and tried to kill him" She cleared another tear.

"What in the living hell?! And I thought we had the most tragic and sad story in this group!" Kankuro commented terrified. Gin just opened his eyes and Lilly was with both hands in her mouth, gasping silently _'He's just like me!'_ She thought. "How did he survive?" Gin asked

"He ahm… was first saved by his uncle from his mother, who was with him the entire time that day, but was quickly shot in the heart by his father and then…Strife shot his father with his revolver in the head…" The trio gasped in terror "He stayed there for days, staring at the corpses terrified and eventually, left home to the village. In the village, he was hated by the villagers, he still is, due to the rumors of Strife killing his own family…Since then, he developed this cold, emotionless and indifferent personality, he didn't even know what was the meaning of a heart and its emotions! I started talking to him, been with him ever since we were part of the same team, explaining to him the concept of a heart, looking out for him, calming him down, caring for him…" She let out a tear combined with a small smile

"Jeez, you're like his wife" Kankuro commented, receiving a blush from Fury and two punches from Gin and Lilly.

"*sigh* you're hopeless, big brother…Anyway, you did what a friend would do and he must be very thankful that he has someone like you" Gin spoke, and Fury smiled.

"Anyway, I did my part, now it's yours. I'm curious to know your story" Fury said, making Lilly sigh and Gin and Kankuro frown. "You can take your time too, I'm patient"

"It was very thoughtful of you to take us to such a nice place…" Gin said as he looked at the playground. He didn't have his mocking grin though "It all started when we were born. Since we three were born in the Sand Clan, the most powerful clan in the village, we didn't have a lot of friends. I managed to find some good friends, as well as Kankuro, but Lilly, she was pretty much alone, our parents were always out, Kankuro and I often went to play with our friends. Until one fateful day, when she was alone in the park, a girl the same age as her came to talk to her. They had been friends ever since. However…" Gin placed his hand in Lilly's shoulder and squeezed it a bit "…the villagers saw her as an outsider"

"What do you mean an outsider? She is from the Sand clan! How is she an outsider?"

"Our mother" Fury looked confused "She was from the Karat Clan" Fury's widened "She was exiled because of some incident that happened here in the Leaf. I presume it was the explosion that happened 13 years ago. She needed to run away and protection and stay hidden, and since the Leaf and the Sand are allies, she asked the Sand Council for assistance. For that to happen, she needed to marry someone from the Sand, to be officially a Sand citizen. The Kazekage, our father, offered himself as her husband and she happily accepted"

"So, she's considered an outsider just because her mother is a Karat?"

"Basically…Anyway, as I was saying before, since the villagers saw her as an outsider, one of them tried to kill her when she was coming home from the academy. Her best friend tried to protect Lilly and died in the process. Lilly couldn't run away, she was engulfed by fear and horror. However, our mother quickly saved her from the villager by killing him in the heart with his revolver."

"Oh God, that's horrible. How did your mother reached her so fast?"

"She noticed it was getting late and was aware of her social status, so she teleported in a puff of Dark Dust and quickly saved her" Kankuro explained.

"Since she killed a sand villager, she was quickly blamed by all of the citizens. Even after she explained the situation, the villagers didn't care and because of that, a deal has been made by the council. In order to fully protect me and my brothers, our mother had to die…" Gin said as he fought a tear from falling down. Kankuro frowned and grabbed his shoulder tightly "She didn't hesitate and accepted the deal…" He let out a small tear "Since then, Lilly felt lonely, she still does, even after our efforts…"

"I-I'm sorry to hear about it. Wow, I mean… that explains a lot actually, you're like a female version of Strife's. By the way, is there a chance you're actually related to him? Like a cousin?"

"Perhaps, I wouldn't know…" Lilly responded.

After a few minutes of letting what they had learned sink in, Fury completed the tour around the village, which ended up in cheering the trio a lot. After that, Fury went home to her estate to inform Strife.

XXX

 _(Minz estate; 22:00)_

Fury had just finished taking a bath after eating and was currently trying to call Strife but he just wouldn't answer, she was getting worried. She called for the fifth time.

"Oh, hey Fury" Strife finally answered

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I ahm…well, you know how it is when multiple female psychos are trying to call you right?" He answered shyly, making Fury sigh and shake her head.

"Well anyway, I've talked to that Sand trio"

"Did you find anything interesting" he asked more seriously

"Well, for starters, their mother was a Karat" Strife's cellphone suddenly made a sound. "Strife? Are you still here with me? What happened?"

He didn't answer for quite a while "S-sorry…it's just that…to hear that they are more Karats in this world…it's…" He said with long pauses. Fury assumed he was crying out of happiness.

"I know, it's amazing! I was taken by surprise when I heard it too! Strife, ahm…are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright. In fact, I'm more than alright! I'm happy!"

"That's good to hear…" she said to herself smiling "Anyway, I found out more. More specifically, about Lilly" Strife responded her to proceed and she started telling Lilly's whole story, since her mother's history till now.

"Hmm…interesting, very interesting. I knew from the beginning something was off with her and she was somehow similar to me but I wouldn't imagine it was that close!"

"Yeah, I had that feeling as well… You know, when I told them about you…" Strife tensed a bit "…they took it rather well and each one sympathized a lot with you"

"R-really?"

"Really…"

"Well I guess it was only natural! After all, we're all cousins and share similar pasts and lives! Anyway, see you tomorrow. Good night!"

"Good night, see you tomorrow" Fury finished the call and both went to sleep.

XXX

 _(The auditorium; 09:00)_

"Where is Strife?" War asked Fury. Both were standing impatient by the entrance of the auditorium where the first part of the exam takes place. They only had 30 minutes to register and Strife still hasn't showed up.

A puff of dark dust appeared right in front of them "Sorry gu-"

"Where the hell have you been?! We've been waiting for you!" Fury immediately shushed him, making him enter in a defense stance terrified.

"I-I needed to check something important first! And then I was preparing myself for the exam, since I spent all evening sky-watching"

Fury sighed while War laughed "Typical" Both said.

"Well, nevermind that, let's get going shall we?" Strife suggested as he place his hands on each of his friends' shoulders. _'Odd. Since when Strife initiates physical contact?'_ Both Fury and War thought as they stared Strife confused.

They have been walking for at least 10 minutes in the first floor, looking for stairs, until Fury had decided to summon a couple of dogs to find the stairs and then report back to Fury. After taking the stairs, they noticed lots of people standing outside one of the rooms.

"Which room were we supposed to be?" Strife asked and Fury answered C-03. He looked at the number on the room and it displayed C-03. ' _Odd…C-03? The floors are organized by the letters, and I remember only climb up to the second one- oh I get it'_ "It's genjutsu" He said as he looked at Fury and War, which Fury nodded and War made the usual stupid expression when he doesn't get it. Strife sighed "Think about it, we've only climbed up to the second floor. The room C-03 is supposed to be on the third one. The only explanation is that they put a genjutsu to deceive us" War just said 'oh' in response and the trio just kept on moving towards the next set of stairs.

After climbing the stairs, they got up to a rather big gym, where the room C-03 was right on the hallway in front of them

"Strife Karat" someone called him from behind. Strife turned around to see a very weird looking guy in a green spandex. The weird person jumped down of the catwalk and met Strife.

"And you are…?" He asked disgusted by his looks. Strife hated someone who judged people by its looks or mere rumors but that was just taking too far!

"My name is Rock Lee and I'm here to challenge this year's Rookie of the Year" He said with conviction.

"Not interested" He said blankly and continued to move forward to the hallway. Lee however quickly ran where Strife was going. Strife only saw a mass of dust coming out of Strife's position, who was right in front of them. He smirked at how fast he was.

"I'm afraid I must insist, I must test myself" Strife sighed and vanished into a cloud of dark dust as he activated his eyes. The cloud quickly caught Lee off guard and pinned him against the wall.

The cloud separated into two pieces and one of them backed off and transformed into Strife. "Listen Lee, I'm running out of time so please, stop bothering me" He said blankly and entered the hallway with his team.

"Wasn't that harshly cold?" Fury asked, making Strife sigh

"I remember him from last year. He was the dead last of last year. He's been like this, whenever I see him, always asking for challenges and whenever he fails, he trains to the ground for weeks till he gets to the same level as the challenge. He's going to see me as one and is not going to stop till he gets to my level. Let's just say, I want a challenge"

"You defeated him that easily on purpose?" War asked and Strife nodded. "Smart… well, let's hope you get what you want" he said and the trio stopped when they face Death in the end of the hallway "Big bro? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to make sure all of you enter the exam. You've arrived right on time!"

"Make sure all of us enter? What kind of question is that, of course we all are entering it!" Fury retorted

"I know, but you can only pass if all of you come, if not, you automatically fail the exam" The trio gulped at his explanation "Make me proud, all of you" He said as he fake cleaned a tear coming out of him

"Jeez, you're so melodramatic…" Strife commented sarcastically.

"Don't worry, we will make you proud" War said confidently and Fury nodded at his statement, before entering the room C-03

When they entered the room, they were shocked by the amount of genins that were in the room. Easily surpassing the two hundred genins mark!

"Finally you guys arrived! Took you a while!" a voice came from their left. It was Gin and his team.

"If it wasn't for Strife wanting to do stuff BEFORE the exams, we would have arrived a lot sooner!" Fury answered and Strife laughed shyly while scratching the back of his head.

"What kind of stuff? Don't tell me he has been ejaculating before the exams!" Gin asked, with his same stupid, mocking grin and narrowed eyes. Kankuro and War laughed hard, Fury blushed hard when she started processing images of Strife masturbating, and Lilly and Strife kept the same blank expressions they always had

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Strife said blankly

"Kukuku, why are you so mean, Lord Karat? I just presumed since every male teenager does that nowadays!" Gin excused himself, this time, Lilly facepalmed while sighing heavily

"Do I look like the normal teenager to you?"

"Certainly not, young Lord! However, no one knows what you do inside your estate"

"I wonder if you do the same, _oh great Lord of the Sand_ " Strife commented. Both Strife and Gin started laughing, making Kankuro, War and Fury sweat-drop _'They are both weird human beings!'_ the trio thought while Lilly thought that they at least made things interesting and amusing as she smiled discretly.

"Alright you baby face degenerates! Pipe down and listen up! It's time to begin. I'm Morino Ibiki, your proctor and from this moment your worst enemy" The scarred-face proctor stated as he appeared in the middle of the room in a puff of smoke. Everyone shushed in fear at his entrance and statement, except for Strife, who had a very big smirked, and Lilly, who looked as enthusiastic as ever.

"Now if we're ready we'll proceed with the first stage of the chunnin exam. Hand over your paper work and in return you'll each be given a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated. Ibiki continued.

"D-did he just say…written? NOOOOO! NO A WRITTEN TEST! NOOOO!" War yells terrified while the rest of his team the sand team either facepalmed or sweat-dropped.

 **XXX**

 _ **A/N: I know, I know…You're probably asking this**_ **'WHY DA FAK ISN'T TEMARI AND GAARA IN THE STORY?! OMG, YOU FAKING SUK!'** _ **now please, calm down, I have my reasons. 1º - Gaara - since the tailed beasts were (in a way) swapped by Mythical Masks, it made sense to me to swap Gaara for a more suitable character**_ _(Lilly)_ _ **with appropriate story background. 2º Temari – Well… Strife has guns; War has a huge ass sword, Fury has a whip… Did it really made sense to Temari have a big ass fan? It didn't to me, so I replaced her with a completely new character**_ _(If you guys didn't figure who was the one that I got inspired by, it's Gin Ichimaru from Bleach)_


	9. I'm sorry

I'm sorry, but i decided to discontinue the story.

Whenever i write a story ( i wrote a couple of stories in my youth, though i didn't really shared them with anyone ) i write because a dream or an idea i had sparked my interest. i founded this story's idea great, however, i feel like i messed up the plot a lot, as well as the romantic part and character's builds. And it kinda lost my interest in writing them, chapter after chapter ( which also explains why i took so long to write and upload them ).

I'm sorry, for those who enjoyed the story and kept giving me support my reading it, favouriting it or commenting it.

I am going to make another story with similar content, though it will be only Naruto's universe ( Sorry Darksiders' fans :( . Althogh ths time, i won't make the same mistakes, i will plan out the plot more carefully and make it as interesting and enjoyable possible. you could stick out for a while with me if you want to read it ^^. I'll see you later

Once again, my deepest apologies, fellow readers


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